


Little Mandy and the big bad wolf

by MiriamMT



Series: Gallavich FanFiction [2]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Bipolar Ian Gallagher, Good Parent Mickey Milkovich, M/M, Miscommunication, Neighbors, Nurse Mickey Milkovich, Parents Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Protective Mickey Milkovich, Single Parent Mickey Milkovich, ex-boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21762016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriamMT/pseuds/MiriamMT
Summary: Mickey's new neighbour annoys the hell out of him; he parties and fucks all night, keeping him and his son awake. But suddenly the loud neighbour stops and instead, seems to be depressed all of a sudden. Concerned about the cute ginger's well-being, he decides to take care of him.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Series: Gallavich FanFiction [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551802
Comments: 62
Kudos: 284
Collections: Shameless ▶ Ian Gallagher / Mickey Milkovich





	1. The new Neighbour

Mickey had a new neighbour.  
He lived in an old apartment house, you could hear every damn noise that came from the other apartment. Especially since Mickey shared a wall with the new neighbour - meaning his bed standing exactly at the wall the neighbour had his bed pushed up against as well on the other side.

When Gallagher - That's his name according to the tag on his door - moved in, Mickey couldn't care less.  
He wasn't really the "neighbourly" type.  
He preferred staying all by himself in his apartment except when his son came over.

Gallagher was sickening friendly. Mickey preferred to stay out of his way, but whenever he met him in the hallway, he would get a big smile and "Good Morning Mr Milkovich" or "Good evening Mr Milkovich" he sometimes would even try to initiate small talk, but Mickey mostly just walked away unimpressed.

But Mickey sometimes saw Gallagher talk to the other people in the house, being so overly friendly. He once even carried Mrs Clarkson's groceries upstairs for her when the elevator broke down again - she lives in the fucking 9th floor!

Apart from his weird behaviour with the other people in the house the Gallagher was a normal guy.  
Mickey didn't know much about him. He seemed to work nights since he always seemed to leave the house when Mickey came back from work.

He wouldn't go so far to call him "average" because what Mickey had noticed from quick glances and passing in the hallway was, that Gallagher was extremely attractive.

However, by now - months after Gallagher moved in - Mickey was annoyed by him.  
Really fucking annoyed.

It started about two months ago.

Mickey was woken up in the middle of the night by loud music booming through the next door apartment.

He shot up in his bed to loud club music.  
"What the fuck?!" He groaned and looked around.  
He needed a second to get what was going on and where the obnoxious noise was coming from.

He kicked his blanket away and angrily stomped to the door and grabbed his keys.

He hammered on the door.  
No answer, no way this guy didn't hear him over the music.  
"Open up you motherfucker!" He yelled and hammered on the door again.

It took another minute but suddenly the ginger ripped the door open.  
"Gallagher, knock it off, now!"  
"Hey!" He threw his hands up and grinned "You wanna party with us? Just a small group come in! You want a drink?"

"Didn't you hear me? Turn the music off! Now! It's in the middle of the fucking night you prick!"  
But Gallagher only laughed  
"Hilarious!" And went into his apartment expecting Mickey to follow.

Mickey peeked into the room.  
A few people were in there, men in shorty shorts or crop tops sitting around a table playing poker.

"Come in come in, have a drink, you wanna join in? We're playing strip poker"  
"Dude, it's three am! Turn the damn music off or I come back with a fucking assault rifle"  
"Dude, you're such a party killer" one of the guys exclaimed

"He's cute though" another one of them said and eyed him so obviously that Mickey cringed and kind of shrank together in himself as if he was about to hide his body.  
"Yeah, he is, look at those tight briefs showing off that ass, yum"

Mickey raised his eyebrows at the very subtle men.  
"Another word and I'll get my gun right now and blow your brains all over the fucking wall!"

"Hey!" Gallagher interrupted "Alright, calm down, I'll turn the music down a bit, alright, no guns!"

Mickey eventually stormed off to his apartment again.  
The music was quieter, but Mickey could still hear them laughing and partying.

Mickey decided he hated Gallagher.

The next day when Mickey came from work, the ginger stood next to his apartment door with a notebook, scribbling stuff down.

"There you are, finally, man" he exclaimed hyper when he saw Mickey.  
"What do you want?"  
"Have a quick talk that's all"  
"Well, I don't have time, I gotta get my son soon" and he didn't want to talk to Gallagher, but he wouldn't say that.

"I just want to say," he put himself between Mickey and the door so Mickey couldn't unlock it "I'm gonna stay in this house no matter if you want it or not!"  
Mickey frowned "Okay? What does that have to do with me?"  
"I'm just saying, I'm letting no homophobic piece of trash tell me where to be and what to do"

"Congratulations. I still don't see the connection. You hold that little speech to everyone? Can I go now? I want to change before I get the kid"  
"What connection don't you see? You were threatening to kill me and my friends last night!" He exclaimed "I have rights! And people like you should understand that we're not living in-"

"Woah, Bitch, don't get your panties in a knot! I don't like being woken up in the middle of the night by bad music and I certainly don't like drunk queens eyeing me and objectifying me as if they weren't fucked in 10 years! I'm not a fucking homophobe, you idiot, I don't care what you put up your ass just don't play loud music at 2 am to it!"

Mickey was gay himself, he grew up with really fucking homophobes around him and yeah, he used to beat gays up as well because he was scared of anyone finding out about him being one of them.  
But he let all of that stuff behind him by now so how dared this kid to make a scene here?

"Oh" he said after a while and then started grinning "Alright, sorry to bother you. I have to go anyways, got a date"

Gallagher was gone sooner than Mickey registered his words.  
He just hoped, he wouldn't be so loud tonight, since his son slept at his place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey put Yevgeny to bed.

"No tired, pops" Yevgeny said and he and Mickey both knew it was a blunt lie.  
"You just almost fell asleep during Ninja Turtles" Mickey chuckled "Time for bed young man"  
"You know, you know who's my favourite turtle?" The 3 year old wanted to win time.  
"Hmmm... The red one?"  
"No" Yevgeny giggled  
"No? Well, maybe the... black one?"  
"There is no black one!"  
"Really, yeah, you must be right... then it's the yellow one isn't it?"  
"Yeah" Yevgeny nodded and giggled "Michelangelo" he pronounced the name not even close to right, but it made Mickey smile  
"Yeah, right that's his name. Now bedtime Yevy"

Yevgeny lay down and Mickey tucked him in under the blanket.  
"Story" Yevgeny mumbled.  
"What? A movie and a story?" Mickey asked, "But that's only for really, really good boys that always listen to mommy and pops"  
"I am" Yevgeny promised "Bedtime story, please, pops, please"

Damn him, the blond boy really was his soft spot as stupid as it may sound. But when his son asked something of him like that, how was he supposed to say no?

"Alright, one, but a small one" He took one of the story books for Yev.  
"No" he stopped him "A Mandy story"  
Mickey bit his lip "You want a story about Mandy?"

Since Yevgeny was a baby Mickey would tell him stories about his sister Mandy as bedtime stories (It had started because he hadn't been able to buy his son a real storybook)

"Okay, let's see. _Once upon a time there was a girl called Mandy. She was the nicest and cutest little girl in the whole world! And she lived in a big house with her mother and her brother. Everybody in her little town loved her. But one day she wanted to go into the woods to play. And her mother said, do stay away from the big bad wolves, little girl. Because big bad wolves they want to eat little girls. So little Mandy went into the woods. She played around between the trees and talked to the little animals and picked some flowers for her brother. But then, suddenly, there was a big bad wolf in front of her. But Mandy wasn't scared, you know? No, Mandy always thought everyone was good at heart"_

"Even big bad wolves?"  
"Even them Yevy"  
"What happened then?"

 _"The wolf played all nice and innocent. He wanted to give her little candies, because all the little kids love candies_. But you know, what I'm always saying? We don't take candies from strangers. _So, Mandy didn't want them. That made the big bad wolf angry and he tried to grab her with his big paws and take her with him, because he was also a hungry big bad wolf. But Mandy was fast. So, she ran as fast as she could until she reached her house. She slammed the door shut but the wolf had followed her. Her brother was waiting for her at home and her brother was a knight._ And you know what knights do Yevy? They protect other people. _So, the knight hugged her sooo tightly because that's always comforting her. But Mandy was still scared the wolf would come inside so the knight said: 'we'll build a big fort in the living room of blankets and pillows. Because no wolf can come into our fort so we will be all safe in there'. So, they build a fort and then they hid in it with snacks and drinks and soft music. And no one could come into the fort and Mandy was all safe_ " he ended his little story "Good night bud"

Mickey gave him a good night kiss on his blond hair, switched Yev's nightlight on and walked to the door.  
"Pops?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Did the knight always keep her safe?"  
Mickey bit his lip "He tried Yevy. But even knights make mistakes sometimes. But don't worry, I'll keep you safe, always"

Mickey switched the big lights off and let the door open a few inches.  
He walked over to a window and opened it, lighting up a smoke.  
He didn't like his whole apartment smelling like cigarettes, so he always smoked at the window.

He looked outside when he heard two loud voices. Clearly drunk men. He looked down and two figures walked up to his apartment house. When they passed a street light, Mickey could make out red hair on one of them.

"Gallagher, fuck, why can't you go to him?" He muttered "If you wake up Yevy I'll chop your dick off!"

A few minutes later he heard giggles outside in the hallway and then they disappeared in Gallagher's flat.  
Mickey just shook his head.

Mickey flung the smoke outside and closed the window.  
He sat on his bed and played a game on his phone.  
He couldn't switch on the TV yet.  
The first half hour of Yevgeny sleeping had to be absolutely quiet or the boy would wake up again.

He leaned against the headboard his thoughts lost in memories about his little sister Mandy, when he heard the Gallagher giggling in the room on the other side of his bedroom wall.

He heard muffled voices from the room, and it didn't take them long to land on the bed and Mickey heard loud moaning. He wasn't sure if it was Gallagher's or his company.

Of course, Gallagher had to be _that_ kind of asshole.

Mickey sat paralysed in his bed while the Gallagher banged someone next door. Apparently, their beds were on the same wall, that's what he gathered from the thudding noises against the wall that had to be a bed.

After a few minutes the first shock was over and he quickly got up from the bed and sat in the living room, hoping that Yevy wouldn't wake up from someone's sex noises.  
How was he supposed to explain that?

"Fucking hell, Gallagher, I'm gonna break your skull tomorrow, I swear" he whispered, but luckily Yevgeny didn't wake up that night.


	2. He was suddenly quiet

It went on like that for two more weeks, loud music and partying through the night and Gallagher seemed to bang that new boyfriend of his six times a day - Mickey was a bit jealous - he wondered if Gallagher ever fucking slept. Probably not.

Whenever Mickey saw him in the hallway, he got that obnoxious smile from the ginger as if he did nothing wrong!  
Since the first time Mickey had only complained once more.

He had walked over to ginger and had made such a scene every Drag queen would've been proud. The night before Ian had actually woken up Yevgeny with his noise - something Mickey wouldn't fucking tolerate.

Then one day it was suddenly quiet.  
Mickey appreciated it since it was another night Yevgeny spent at his place - he had him every weekend not just every second- When Mickey came home from work Gallagher wasn't on his way out and he also wasn't standing in the hallway talking to people.  
Mickey didn't think too much about it.

It continued to stay quiet next door.  
If he wasn't wrong, he heard Gallagher crying one night... what was weird since he never seemed to be not cheery and happy.

Then who seemed to be his boyfriend came into the picture again.  
He stood in front of Gallagher's door for a while, hammering against the thing like Mickey did at night not so long ago.

The second day of loud banging and knocking Gallagher let him in and then the screaming and yelling started.

Mickey didn't know the details but almost every day for a week or so the boyfriend stood in Gallagher's bedroom screaming at him to get out of bed.

"The fuck is wrong with you Ian?! You're just lying around the whole day not moving what the fuck?! Get out of bed now!" Variations of that speech that turned to be more and more personally insulting were yelled through the apartment for hours.

It was so bad that Mickey decided it wasn't good if Yevgeny would come over.

"Hey Svet" he called his still-wife "Listen would it be possible if I could come over with Yevgeny and spend my weekend with him at your place?"

Gallagher was lucky he had a good enough relationship with Svetlana to ask her that and actually have the possibility of it working out.

"You don't want to spend time alone? Child too much to handle?" She playfully mocked him.  
"No, my neighbour is a nightmare right now, long story short, there is just constant screaming from next door and our walls are fucking thin. Yev doesn't need to hear all that shit"

Svetlana seemed to think about it for a moment.  
"I have plans tonight" she said slowly "How bad is your place?"  
"I don't know, my neighbour seems to just lie around and his boyfriend yells at him he whole time. It can get pretty loud but from day to day he seemed to stay for shorter times..."  
"So nights are quiet?"  
"Mostly yeah"  
"Then go into park when yelling starts. Child needs more sunlight anyways"  
Mickey licked his lip "Yeah... yeah alright"  
"We try tonight, and tomorrow, if it gets bad, you can come over"  
"Okay, thanks"

They finished the call pretty quickly.  
He heard Gallagher's boyfriend throwing the door shut and stomping off through the hall way, finally.

The Gallagher seemed to be in a bad place right now, but Mickey was angry though.  
He sat on his bed and leaned against the wall.

"Alright fuckhead, I know you can hear me over there. Because of you I almost had to let my son stay at his mom's. No matter how bad you are, if I can't see my kid because of your screaming boyfriend, we'll get a big problem, you and me, you understood that?" He said to him through the wall "I get Yevgeny now, you make sure your boyfriend doesn't come back for the weekend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey was rather surprised, the apartment next door actually stayed quiet.

Yevgeny told him about how he's doing at home and about Mommy's new girlfriend.  
Mickey wished his wife wouldn't drag Yevy into her messy relationships all the time.

"So Yevy what are we having for dinner?" Mickey asked and roamed through his fridge.  
"Pancakes!" The small boy shouted.  
"Pancakes for dinner? I don't think so big guy"  
"Pancakes!"  
"No, we can have pancakes for breakfast tomorrow if you want, but not for dinner"  
"Both! Pancakes for Dinner and Breffast!"  
"No!"

Yevy crossed his arms and pouted.  
"That's not working on me"  
But Yevy knew what worked on him.  
"I bet Nika would make pancakes for dinner."

Mickey stared at his son. The little bastard knew exactly that Mickey was afraid Yevy would love one of his wife's lovers more than him one day.  
"You know what, I'll make you your damn pancakes but you ain't getting a movie tonight"  
"What?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening Mickey was about to put Yevy to bed, when the boy decided he preferred sleeping in his dad's bed.  
"Your bed is big enough for the two of us! And we can build a castle with lots of pillows!" He cheered  
"You're supposed to sleep not build castles"  
"Tomorrow?"  
And Mickey gave in the second time today.

He let Yevgeny sleep in the middle of his bed - the kid was a Milkovich and just couldn't share - and of course he wanted to hear another Mandy story.

"Another Mandy story? But you already heard all of them"  
"I want the one with the shoe"  
"The one with the shoe? Alright... You have your pahndi?" Pahndi was a little stuffed panda bear that actually once belonged to Mickeys sister Mandy and was Yevgeny's favourite stuffed animal "Okay... where do we start?"

"Once Upon a time" Yevgeny reminded him  
"Right, _once upon a time there was a little girl called Mandy. She was the most beautiful girl in town. Her dad was a business man and had to travel a lot and her mom was the most beautiful woman known to men. But one day, Mandy's mommy got really sick and she died..."_  
"That's sad"  
"Yeah that's sad. _Mandy was sad and her dad was also sad. And because he was so sad, he made a pact with an evil wizard"_

"Is the evil wizard a friend of the big bad wolf?"  
"Yeah, I think so, Yev. _So, the wizard cast a spell over the dad to make him forget about the mommy and then he became really angry because Mandy was always so sad. The dad became all mean and evil because of the evil wizard"_

"What was his name?" Yevgeny asked quietly.  
Mickey smiled "His name was Whiskey."  
"That's a silly name pops" he giggled.  
"Isn't it?  
"What happened then?"

_"The evil dad made Mandy do the cooking and the cleaning in the house. She always had to wear old worn clothes with lots of dirt and had to sleep in the kitchen. Because she was so dirty, she wasn't allowed to eat with the dad."_

"Why didn't she bathe? Didn't she like it?"  
_"The dad wouldn't let her. He always used all the warm water and then Mandy couldn't take a bath anymore."_  
"I don't like him"  
"Me neither"  
"Go on"

"Okay, so you have to know, _the town where they lived was ruled over by a king. But the king was old, and he wanted his son to marry someone so he could be king soon. So, they had a big party in the palace and all the girls from the town were invited."_

"Mandy too?"  
" _Yeah, Mandy too. But her dad wouldn't let her go. She was so dirty that it would be embarrassing for him if his daughter went to the party. So, the evening of the party, Mandy washed herself with cold water until she was all cleaned up again. But she didn't had a dress or shoes to go to the ball. So, she went upstairs to the attic and took her mother's old dresses. She thought, if she would wear her mom's dress to the party, it would be okay because she looked really beautiful in it."_

"Did she go to the party?"  
_"Well, her dad saw her in her mother's dress and got really angry. She shouldn't have touched her mom's stuff You know? So, he ripped the dress and he hit her."_  
Yevgeny gasped and pressed Pahndi closer to him  
"You don't hit children "  
"Right you are! You never hit your children! I would never hit you."  
"I know."  
Mickey smiled down at his son, the little boy had his heart.

 _"Then the dad went to meet his friends and Mandy was all alone at home. She walked outside into the yard where her mom's grave was. And then she cried. She missed her mom and her dad was evil and she just wanted to go to the party like a normal girl for once."_  
"And then?!" Yevy exclaimed knowing exactly what came then.

 _"Suddenly there stood a man next to her. And he asked if he could help her."_  
"And who was he?"  
_"He was a fairy"_ Mickey chuckled, knowing very well, it was a euphemism for gay men " _And he wanted to help her and protect her. She should be able to go to the party like every other normal girl."_

"What did he do?"  
_"He did some magic and gave her a beautiful dress she could wear to the party"_  
"What did it look like?"  
"Black...."  
"I like it" Yevy giggled.

Mickey smiled and continued  
_"And to the dress he gave her a pair of shoes. Glass shoes and they were so wonderful. So, with the new stuff she could go to the party, but the fairy warned her that the magic would be over at midnight. So, Mandy went to the party and she was the most beautiful girl there - the Prince thought so too. So, he danced with her the whole night. And they talked a lot. Because no matter how beautiful she was, her personality really made her so amazing! But she forgot about the time and suddenly it was midnight and she had to go before the spell wore off."_

"Oh no!" Yevy squealed " Will the Prince still like her without the pretty dress?"  
"That's the question, Yevy. If he really likes her, he will like her with the dirt and the ashes, but not many people like others like that"  
"That's sad" Yevy mumbled.  
Mickey nodded  
"What happened then?"

 _"Mandy ran home so the Prince wouldn't see the torn dress, she ran down the stairs of the big castle_ and you know what happened then?"  
"She lost her shoe!" Yevy grinned  
_"Yeah, she lost the glass shoe._ Silly Mandy, right?"  
Yevy nodded.

_"The Prince missed her a lot and he wanted to see her again. But how was he supposed to find her? She was one of many, many girls to live in town. And maybe she wasn't even from their town. She looked like a princess after all. But he had her shoe. So, he said, that every girl in town should try the shoe and whoever fit the shoe would marry him"_

"So, all the girls tried the shoe?"  
"Yeah."  
"Didn't it smell? Shoes always smell!"  
Mickey laughed loudly at his sons' words.

"I don't think it smelled, Yevy, it was a magic shoe after all. However, _at some point the Prince and his knights arrived at Mandy's house. But the dad didn't want his daughter to leave the house. He wanted to keep her to work for him."_  
"But he was mean to her, she should go"

"Right you are. _But the dad told the Prince that no girl lived in the house and that they didn't need to look, so the Prince wanted to leave again"_  
"Oh no!" Yevgeny gasped "the fairy needs to help her!"

 _"The fairy saw everything from his hiding spot, and he decided to give the Prince a hint so he would look for Mandy. And what did he say to him?"_  
_"What's up motherfucker"_ Yevgeny exclaimed what had Mickey chuckling _"Open your damn eyes, you dumb fuck, and look for Mandy. How stupid are you to just believe this piece of shit?"_

Mickey laughed at his son babbling the words with his tough baby voice, Yevgeny giggled with him.  
"Don't ever speak like that in front of mommy, yeah? She'll be fucking mad"  
"No worry, she says worse in Russian"

"Yeah, she does... however, _the Prince listened to the fairy and went back into the house to look for Mandy."_  
"Did he find her?"  
_"Yeah he found her in the attic and rescued her out of the house and from the dad and took her to his castle."_  
"And they married"  
_"And they married and lived happy ever after"_ he ended the story with a smile "now time for bed, come on eyes closed."


	3. I like your stories

A few days later the hammering on Gallagher's door started again.  
Mickey looked through the spy in the door and saw that it wasn't his boyfriend but a guy with blonde locks together with a slightly older brunette woman.

They eventually took out a key and opened the door to Gallagher's flat themselves.  
There was some rambling and crying going on and eventually they dragged a fucked up looking ginger out of the apartment and out of the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a week Gallagher was back.  
Mickey came home from his shift and went to check the mailbox when he met him.  
He looked at his mailbox, with an empty look, not moving just staring.

"You alright Gallagher?" Mickey asked.  
He faced him and gave him a half smile "Hi"  
"Hey... are you high or something?"  
He shook his head.

"I like your stories" he said after a pause.  
"My what?" He asked confused.  
"I heard you telling your son the Cinderella story. And the other day it was Mandy and her brother building a sand castle and living in it. You're good at that... telling stories."

Mickey shrugged.  
"When the kid was younger, we couldn't afford real story books, so I started coming up with stories. You listened?"  
Ian nodded "Thin walls. Calmed me, ya know?" He admitted shily.

Mickey raised an eyebrow at him, what seemed to embarrass Gallagher, so he quickly turned around and walked up to his apartment.  
Mickey followed.

"Hey, wait a second Gallagher"  
The Ginger turned around to him.  
"Where were you the last days?"  
"You noticed I was gone?" He gave him a half smile.

Mickey shrugged "It was quiet I noticed that. And those two people dragged you out of your apartment one day. They're loud"  
"My siblings" Gallagher explained.  
"So, all Gallaghers are so fucking loud, huh?"

Ian smiled at the ground and nodded.  
"I'm sorry for that. Didn't mean to disturb you... or your son."  
"It's alright" Mickey shrugged and decided they have had enough neighbour time now and turned around to open his apartment door.

"Who's Mandy?" Gallagher asked suddenly.  
Mickey froze, keys inches away from the door.  
"What?"  
"Mandy. Both stories were about the same girl. I also heard you telling him stories about her before. When I used to tell my little brother goodnight stories, I also used real people and real stories."

"She uh" Mickey hesitated and cleared his throat "She's my sister"  
"Oh"  
"Yeah" Mickey mumbled and wanted to unlock the door.

"I was in a psych ward" Gallagher admitted suddenly, "You asked where I was the past days. Psych ward."  
"Really? Why? You killed someone and eat 'em up?"

"No" Gallagher gave him a shy smile "I have uh... stupid thing, Bipolar, that's what they call it. That's why I was so loud and partied all night a few weeks ago, I'm really sorry about that."

Mickey knew a lot about different mental illnesses, and he knew what bipolar looked like - even in its worst phases.  
"And then you lay depressed in bed for a week" Mickey nodded "They give you meds for that?"  
Gallagher nodded.  
"And your siblings stay at your place and make sure you take them?"

Gallagher shook his head "I got this. I will take the meds. I'm not like my mom, she never took hers"  
Mickey raised his eyebrows at him.  
"I'm sorry, but that's bullshit."  
Gallagher looked at him surprised.

"New medications fuck up your system. Your body needs time to adjust to them. You're gonna feel really fucking awful and you won't want to take them. That's always the case when people get new meds. It needs to be worse so it can get better. Someone should stay with you and make sure you take them. It's not a thing you can just do on your own."

Ian sighed.  
"I don't want my siblings here. They look at me like I'm our mom. I hate that. They treat me just like her but I'm not her! I'm not..."  
Mickey sighed.

"Alright Gallagher, I'll make sure you do that then. Don't need your body hanging from the ceiling and smelling for weeks. Get your ass and your pills over, you can stay as long as you need to adjust and if you don't want to take your pills, I'm gonna put them in a piece of cheese, like you do it with dogs."

Ian stared at him.  
"Really? You'd do that?"  
Mickey shrugged "If it means neither you nor your boyfriend are screaming around. Yeah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neither Mickey nor Gallagher - Whose name was Ian by the way - knew why they agreed to such a thing so quickly in the hallway.

Maybe it was because Mickey thought the boy was really attractive and he somehow wanted to be close to him and didn't want anything happen to the redhead.  
Not that he would admit anything of that to himself.

It was a simple arrangement.  
They would have breakfast together and Ian would take his pills while eating then he would go over to his apartment and Mickey went to work.  
When he came back from work, he would check on Ian get him over to his apartment they spend time with each other, just like normal people, then they had dinner and Ian took his pills and slept on the couch.  
(He had to take the pills twice a day)

Ian slept a lot and Mickey was right, he felt awful.  
He was sleepy and empty, and the pills made him feel like life wasn't worth living anymore.  
The only thing that gave him strength was Mickey.

"Hey, sleepy head, time for breakfast" he mumbled kneeling in front of the couch.  
"Don't want... not hungry"  
"You gotta eat."  
Ian shook his head and faced away from him.

"Bad day, huh?" Mickey rubbed circles into Ian's shoulder with his thumb "Hey, I know it's bad right now, but it's gonna be better again. We can have breakfast on the couch if you want"

"I don't want the pills"  
"Why not?"  
"They... They make me feel awful"  
"Okay, I'm trying to not look too surprised right now."

Ian turned around again and looked at him.  
"It will be better again, I promise. But it's just gonna be worse and worse if you don't take them.... besides... it's Friday and my son is coming over."

"And you don't want him to be in one apartment with a psycho..."  
"It's not a problem if the psycho is properly medicated. No, come on, I just don't know how to explain to him who you are and what you're doing on my couch... not that it would matter that much anyways. The kid loves all kinds of people. Would probably just sit down and tell you his whole life story just for the sake of it. Not a clue where he got that from", shook his head smiling.

Ian showed him a weak smile.  
"You won't throw me out when he comes over?"  
"No. But you gotta eat your breakfast in return." Eating breakfast included taking the pills "Come on, get up, I need to go to work soon"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unlike most Fridays Mickey went from work directly to the bar his wife worked in and to get Yevgeny.  
"Hey, Mickey!" Kevin called, "Wanna stay for a beer, let me buy you a beer!"  
"No man need to get home. Got someone who waits for me." he answered while hugging Yevgeny, who sat in a booth with Kevin's children.

"No naughty time while child is home" Svetlana walked into the room to say good bye to her son.  
"He's just my neighbour. It's not what you think"  
"The loud one?"  
"Yeah, he isn't loud at the moment. I let him stay in my apartment for a few weeks."  
"What's wrong with his apartment?"  
Mickey bit his bottom lip.  
"Something about the guy above him being too stupid to stop filling water in his tub I think, beats me. But it will be alright, he's nice."

"Who's nice?" Yevgeny asked.  
"My neighbour. He will stay with us for the weekend."  
"The match?"  
"The what?", his mom asked.  
"He has hair like fire. He looks like a match. That you use to light candles with" Yevy explained.

Svetlana raised an eyebrow and grinned at Mickey.  
She quickly hugged Yevy and then Mickey and whispered:  
"You don't fool me. You always liked red hair." she kissed his cheek and chuckled while Mickey and Yevy quickly left the bar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey unlocked his door and let his son into the apartment.  
"Match stays weekend?"  
"Yeah, his name is Ian."  
"Ian?"  
"Come on, I need to talk to you before Ian comes over"

Yevgeny sat on the couch.  
"Important talk?"  
"Yeah, important talk. Listen carefully.", Mickey sat next to him "So Ian doesn't feel so good right now. He is a bit sad, okay? So, don't wonder if he doesn't talk much or is sleepy okay?"  
"Sad?"  
Mickey nodded.  
"We cheer him up?"  
"You can try, Yevy"  
"Why is he sad?"  
"He's sick. You're also upset when you're sick, right? You can't run and jump around?"  
Yevy nodded.  
"Get match now?"

Mickey walked over to Ian's apartment. The Ginger sat on his couch and watched TV.  
"Hey Gallagher, how are we feeling?"  
"Better" Ian sighed.  
"Good, Yevy is excited that we have a guest for the weekend. You coming?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian was feeling way better than in the morning and Yevy cheered him up even more. He forced him to watch his favourite Disney movie with him and told him all about his friends Gemma and Amy.

For the first hour Mickey was worried, Yevy might be too energized for Ian, that Ian couldn't handle the kid jumping around him and babbling, but Ian smiled at him and listened to every word the boy had to say.

Mickey watched them together until he made some small dinner.  
When they sat down to eat Yevgeny wouldn't shut up either, he kept talking to Ian and he seemed to enjoy it.

By now Mickey had understood one important thing about Ian: he hated to be treated differently just because he is sick. And Yevgeny talked to him like any over-energized excited kid would talk to their house guest.

Eventually Ian took his pills.  
"What's that?" Yevgeny asked.  
"It's just some Medicine Yevgeny", Mickey explained.  
"Oh, right, Pops said you're sad because you're sick. I'm also sad when I'm sick. I mean, at first, I'm not so sad because I don't have to go to day care and mommy is cooking my favourite food. But then I'm sad because I want to play or watch TV and then she says 'no, you're sick you have to stay in bed' but that's not true. I can be sick and play right? That's why I like it when she brings me over to pops when I'm sick. He lets me do whatever I want when I'm sick and I'm getting an extra Mandy story. So, I can understand why you want to be with pops when you're sick. He's good with sick people."

Ian nodded and gave Mickey a quick look.  
"He works with sick people too. They all like him, right pops? But I'm not allowed to go to his work so often. I can only go there when he's not working, and we visit auntie Mandy. But they all say hi to pops and want to talk to him."

Now Ian looked at him with raised eyebrows.  
"Yevgeny, that's enough, tell him more about your friends, I'm sure that's way more interesting" Mickey mumbled.  
So, Yevgeny changed the topic quickly.

Getting the boy to bed was a challenge.  
He wondered where Ian would sleep and wanted to build a big fort with him and Mickey in the living room to sleep with both of them there.  
But Mickey was tired, and he knew Yevgeny was tired too, and Ian of course. So, he had to promise the kid they'd build a fort the next day.

He told him a good night story -one without Mandy this time - and Ian listened as well to his soft voice.

Eventually he flopped down on the couch next to Ian.  
"I like your kid" Ian said smiling.  
"I'm amazed by your ability to listen to his story's the whole day" Mickey chuckled "You got many siblings at home?"  
"Three younger, two older"  
"Damn, your parents rich or something?"  
"No, my mom's a hoe."

Mickey chuckled at him and looked at the ginger.  
"What is your job, exactly?" Ian asked after a minute of them just looking at each other.  
"I, uh" he looked away again "I work as a nurse in a mental hospital. Because of Yevy I arranged it to have the weekends off and right now I'm lucky to not work nights but that's gonna change in a few months again" he shrugged.

"And your sister... she's at the hospital?"  
Mickey nodded.  
"Yeah, they put her in there years ago. I became a nurse there to bust her out actually, but I.... well, I eventually had to understand that she only gets the help she needs if she stays there. So, I work there to see her every day. I only took Yevgeny a few times so far. It's not the right environment for a kid but he loves his auntie."

"Does she have a disorder or something as well?"  
Mickey shook his head "No. Nothing like that. Sadly, the world isn't full of princes but full of bad wolves and monsters" he bit his bottom lip and sighed " You should get some sleep, Gallagher, the kid's gonna keep you occupied tomorrow the whole day" he grinned and got up from the couch to go to his room.  
"Good night, Mick"


	4. That kind of liking

Around four weeks later Ian was way better. He, In fact, was so good, he didn't need to stay at Mickey's anymore. He didn't Bitch about the pills in the morning, he just took them.

He didn't spend the night at Mickey's anymore, but they had breakfast and dinner together though, out of habit. And Mickey still liked to make sure Ian took his meds and Ian liked that Mickey took care of him like that.  
It was a good feeling, being taken care off by Mickey. He didn't treat him like a patient or a psycho, just a normal person who was sad sometimes and who had to take pills in the morning. He didn't treat him as someone who had a live long mental disorder but just a cold or something. He treated him... like a normal person.

His siblings checked in a few times and were surprised to see Ian properly medicated and handling the disorder. He didn't tell them about Mickey yet.

It was Friday and Mickey had told Ian, that his wife would bring Yevgeny over today. Ian didn't feel like being alone in his apartment, so he waited at Mickey's - they had keys for the other's apartment by now.

Ian looked at the clock, Mickey should've been here by now. His wife could be here every minute.  
Ian had been startled when Mickey had called her "My wife". He thought, they were separated. He was disappointed when Mickey talked about her as if they were still a couple... He may have a little crush on the Milkovich by now.

He couldn't help it, he always had been one of the people to fall head over heels immediately. He had already liked him when he lay his eyes on him for the first time when he moved in half a year ago.  
He had always tried to talk to him, but Mickey just wasn't one for small talk.

Now they actually had a connection and Ian, being the helpless hopeless idiot, he was, was in love with him.  
Over all the time they had spent together he forgot one important thing: Mickey was straight.

At least that's what Ian gathered from him having a wife and a kid. And since he still called her "My wife" he was probably still in love with her.

Someone knocked on the door.  
Ian's head snapped up. That was odd. Mickey wouldn't knock, it was his home.

Ian got up and looked through the spy in the door.  
There stood a woman and Yevgeny on her hand.

Ian opened the door and got a weird confused look from the woman.  
"Match!" Yevgeny exclaimed. The kid really liked him for some reason.

"Ah, you are carrot boy, husband talks about" the woman eyed him. So, this must be Svetlana then.  
"Uhm, yeah, I guess. I'm Ian."  
"Where is he?"  
"Not home yet... I don't know, he was supposed to be here half an hour ago."  
"You live here now?"  
"No, no I... I just waited for him."

Svetlana got her phone out and called someone.  
Ian bit his bottom lip, while Yevgeny just started telling him about his week.

"Where are you?" Svetlana asked into the phone.  
"Calm down, Svet. I'm on my way, streets are a nightmare today. I'm home in like... five minutes, ten tops."

"I have appointment I need to go."  
"I know, I'm sorry, but I can't help the traffic, can I?"  
"And now? Am I supposed to leave Yevgeny with lover boy?"

Ian looked at her with raised eyebrows.  
"He's not my lover, Svet, Jesus. Is he there? You can't say that when he listens are you mental?"  
"I need to go, now"  
"Alright, leave him with Ian. I'll be home in five minutes I promise."

"I can't just leave child with stranger because you want to get carrot dick!"  
"Fucking hell, Svetlana!" Mickey exclaimed, "stop saying that bullshit and especially stop using those words! Leave Yevy with Ian in my apartment. I'm home in no time." He hung up.

Ian stared at Svetlana speechless.  
Svetlana looked him up and down.  
"God knows what he sees in you. You gonna take care of child? Husband will be home soon"  
Ian just nodded still not being able to speak.

Svetlana hugged and kissed Yevgeny goodbye before leaving.  
The child dragged Ian inside and kept telling him about his week.

"Yevgeny, can I ask you something?" Ian interrupted.  
"Okay"  
"Why don't your parents live together, you know that?"  
"Pops wants to live closer to auntie Mandy. But not too far from our house."  
"No, I mean... why aren't they a couple anymore?"  
"Couple? You mean with love and kisses?"  
"Yeah"  
Yevgeny shrugged.  
"They never were couple like other parents. Like Kev and V. They are a couple with lots of love and kisses."

In the next moment the door opened, and Mickey entered the apartment.  
"Pops!" Yevgeny exclaimed and ran over to him to hug him.  
"Hey, sorry I'm late, Yevy. There was an accident on the road, and I needed forever to get through traffic"  
"It's okay, match was there"

Mickey walked over to the couch with Yevgeny in his arms.  
"Thanks for keeping an eye on him" he mumbled shyly. He was very aware of the fact that Ian had heard every single word that Svetlana had said to him.

"Can we build another fort?" Yevgeny grinned "Please, we can sleep in there All three tonight"  
"I'm sure, Ian doesn't want to stay so long tonight, Yevgeny"  
"You're not gonna stay the night?" Yevgeny asked disappointed.  
Ian looked at Mickey, who avoided his eyes, And smiled.  
"If your pops doesn't mind, I can stay"  
Mickey looked up at him shyly.  
"Pops, please, please let match stay!"  
"Okay, alright."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yevgeny lay in his pyjamas inside of the fort wrapped in a blanket.  
The two men watched him sleep.  
"Mick?" Ian whispered, "Can I ask you something?"  
"Is it about what Svet said earlier? Because I swear, I didn't say you're my lover or anything like that. She just wants to start shit sometimes"

"I was just confused because you called her your wife and she called you husband. Thought you were divorced"  
"She just has trouble with pronouncing Mickey, so she usually says husband or the long version of my name. If we'd get a divorce, she probably would have to leave the country. Can't chance that because of Yevgeny."  
"Oh" Ian mumbled.  
"Why are you asking?"

"I was just confused. You talked about her like you were still a couple and I wondered why you don't live together"  
Mickey rubbed his eyebrows.  
"We never were a couple to begin with" Mickey mumbled "Hey, that's really not a fun story, let's not talk about that now."  
"All of the things that I want to ask you and want to know about you seem to be sad story's... your sister, your wife... is there anything happy in your life?"

Mickey just smiled at him and pointed at Yevgeny.  
"He is the happy thing in my life. I don't need more."  
Ian smiled at him.

"You're an amazing dad. My dad would never build a fort with me. Or take care of me when I'm sick."  
"Who did that stuff then?"  
"My sister Fiona. She took care of all of us. My parents are useless fuck ups. The only things they were good at, was making new kids and neglecting them."

"When our dad paid attention to us, then usually to hit us." Mickey whispered "I made him call me Pops because when he called me dad for the first time, I swear I had some flash backs of Mandy calling our dad. I just hope I don't fuck him up too much."  
Ian looked at him.  
"Every kid would be glad to have someone like you. Especially in this neighbourhood."

Mickey smiled shyly.  
"That's a nice thing to say. But I'm sure he could do better than a gay criminal from a violent drug family."  
Ian looked at him, while he watched Yevgeny sleep.

"So, you're actually gay then?"  
Mickey just nodded mindlessly. He had no problem with admitting it anymore, especially when it came to other gay people, like Gallagher.

"Tell me about your wife... I want to know that story."  
"Why are you so interested in that?"  
"Maybe I'm just interested in you..."

Mickey looked at him.  
They had put Yevy's night light into the fort so Mickey could see his face pretty clearly.

"I had a boyfriend back then. A fuckbuddy more than a boyfriend, but I... was kind of in love with him, I guess. We uh, were fucking in the living room of my house, when suddenly my dad walked in." Mickey looked at his hands and flicked his tongue over his lips nervously "He beat him up, but I couldn't just watch dad beat up the boy I loved, so I pulled him off. And he started beating me up until I passed out. When I woke up, the other guy sat on the couch, dad held him at gun point. And he had called over Svetlana. She was a hooker working in a massage salon back then." Mickey sighed, he had never told anybody this "He told her, to fuck the faggot out of me. While my boyfriend had to watch. During that... She got pregnant and dad forced me to marry her."

Both were silent for several minutes.  
"I'm sorry that happened to you" Ian mumbled.  
Mickey shrugged "Now he's dead, so fuck It. I've got my son and I love him, no matter how he came into my life." He bit his bottom lip. "That's enough sad stories for one evening"

"Just" Ian interrupted Mickeys efforts to get out of the situation "What about that boyfriend. What did he do?"

Mickey shrugged "He...." he sighed "I don't know. He didn't seem to understand what I was going through or he couldn't deal with the situation either. I never understood why he acted the way he did. He joked about it and... He was mad at me for going into hiding and not wanting to talk to him. I couldn't even bear to be touched by him and he just kept pushing and pushing. Then he tried to make me feel guilty for being forced to marry Svet and... He told me to beat him up because that would make me feel like a man again. I don't know why he said that stuff. I just wanted him to go, but he wouldn't listen. He kept saying those things.... in the end I married Svetlana and he refused to talk to me afterwards ever again."

"What an asshole. He should've been there for you instead of hurting you too. Why were you even in love with him?"  
Mickey shrugged "When we started hooking up, he was the sweetest boy I knew. Naive as fuck, but nice and funny, smart and the sex was amazing. I guess sometimes you just really know a person when you need their help." He smiled "You remind me of him, or how he used to be, sometimes. Could also just be the hair, I don't know"

Ian chuckled. "Is that why your wife thought I'm your lover? Because I look like your ex?"  
"You don't look like him at all. You just both got red hair. And yes, that might be the reason... apart from the fact that you pretty much lived in my apartment the last weeks."

"I like your wife" Ian stated "She has a funny way of speaking. My favourite was 'carrot dick'. As if Yevgeny wouldn't stand next to her" Ian chuckled.  
"She said far worse with the kid around. She has absolutely no filter and no shame."

They were both chuckling quietly, minding Yevgeny lying just a few feet away.  
"I like you, Mickey" Ian admitted finally.  
Mickey gave him a questioning look.  
"I hope so, otherwise I would question why you're here."

"No... I mean... I really like you... you know... the kind of liking, where I was sad when I thought you were straight" he trailed off and Mickey raised his eyebrows.  
"Oh, that kind of liking..." he smiled, And Ian nodded shyly "Maybe I like you like that too..."

"Really?" Ian whispered and looked at him hopeful, Mickey nodded slightly, avoiding his eyes.  
The Gallagher looked at him and slowly leaned in. He wanted to kiss him forever and now he would go for it. Mickey saw what he was about to do and leaned in as well, meeting him half way and kissing him.

Ian wrapped his arms around Mickey and the older man ran his hands through his red hair. They kissed gently until Mickey had enough of it and intensified the kiss, having Ian chuckling at his lips and opening his mouth for Mickey to let their tongues touch. They were making out quietly, Ian scooted closer and pulled Mickey on top of him.

"Wait, wait" Mickey mumbled as he pulled back suddenly.  
"What?" Ian asked confused, both slightly out breath.  
"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

Ian bit his lip. Right... over his blooming feelings for Mickey he had already forgotten about that guy.  
"I'm not even sure about that anymore. But if he is, I'm gonna break up with him anyways. I guess sometimes you just really know a person when you need their help." Ian quoted Mickey "And I got together with him when I was manic and hypersexual, it's not serious anyways"

"Still. I'm not kissing guys that are in relationships already." He whispered and climbed down from him again.  
"So, if I break up with him, you're gonna kiss me again?"  
Mickey shrugged "If you want that, I'm sure it can be arranged. Just maybe not with my son lying next to us"

"Will I be your lover boy then?" He teased him a bit with Svet's words "And you get all the carrot dick you want."  
Mickey chuckled and looked away embarrassed.  
"You're an idiot."  
"And you like me though. You're weird."

Mickey shook his head smiling.  
"I'm gonna call him first thing when Yev's gone on Sunday."  
"Why wait until then? It's a quick SMS."  
"Are you that impatient or desperate?"  
"Both."

"I'm not gonna break up via text, Mickey. Even if it was just a mindless affair while I was sick. But you don't like it when there is yelling and stuff in my flat while Yevgeny is here, so I'll do that Monday."  
"How thoughtful."  
"Yeah, I'm just trying to seduce you by being nice to your kid."

Mickey playfully hit his arm.  
"Can I at least sleep next to you tonight?" Ian asked and Mickey nodded.

The next day Yevgeny woke up first.  
On the other side of the fort he saw his pops and Ian. The ginger lay behind his pops, his body pressed on Mickeys back, their hands lay on top of each other.

Yevgeny knew that sleeping position just from his mommy and Nika.  
He crawled over to his pops and lay down next to him. Mickey put his arm around him automatically and Ian moved his arm to be wrapped around the Malkovich's waist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mondays, Mickey always came back later than on other days, he always spent an additional hour at the hospital to talk with Mandy after she saw her therapist on Mondays.

He entered the building and got his mail. Bills, bills, bills and a letter from prison, probably one of his brothers.  
He walked up to his apartment.  
He opened his brother's letter while walking and read the first few lines of Iggy asking after Mandy and his nephew.

"You fucking slut!", he heard someone scream suddenly, "You think you can just do that? Fuck me and dumb me like some bitch?"  
He heard a weird thudding noise.  
Mickey stared around the hallway, he needed a moment to register it came from Ian's apartment.

"And that's for fucking cheating on me, you bitch!"  
He heard other various noises that he would recognise immediately - it was the noise of someone being beaten up.  
He recognised the noises of someone being hurt and he heard someone grunting and begging.

Within a split second Mickey got out of his trance and jumped into action, he unlocked his door and got his gun from his bedroom.  
He ran over to Ian's apartment and unlocked it, he charged in there and saw a guy bend over Ian, who tried to cover his face with his hands while his boyfriend hit and kicked him repeatedly.

Mickey ran over and held his gun on the guy's head.  
"One more move and I decorate the walls with your brains", he growled.  
The guy looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and opened his mouth to speak.  
"I consider smart-ass comments a movement, bitch! Now back off, slowly."

He slowly took a step backwards and looked at the Milkovich pointing a gun at his face.  
"You're gonna leave, now, and you're not gonna come back. Every time I lie an eye on you again, you're gonna loose a nut, got it?"  
The guy wanted to say something, but Mickey wasn't having it, he shot a bullet exactly an inch next to his ear, it hit wall and left a hole.  
"You got it?", he yelled.

The guy nodded quickly and walked out while Mickey kept holding the gun at him and shut the door with his foot.  
He quickly pushed the gun into the back of his jeans and walked over to Ian.

"Hey, you okay?", he mumbled and helped him sit up, leaning against the wall, Mickey kneeled down in front of him. He examined his face, blood run out of a cut on his cheek and his nose, but it wasn't broken, and he had a black eye, "We should put ice on that or something"  
But Ian had other plans, he pulled Mickey to him by his shirt and pressed their lips together.

Mickey kissed him properly, having one hand on his uninjured cheek.  
He could taste Ian's blood through the kiss but didn't care. He wanted to do that since Friday.

A moment later they were heavily making out on the floor, Mickey straddling Ian's hips.  
"Alright, wait a moment, will you, you just got beaten up", Mickey said slightly out of breath but chuckling when he pulled back, "Wash up that blood and let me see how bad he kicked you."  
"You just want to see me shirtless"  
"I have more than one reason to ask you to take your shirt off, yes.", he shrugged and grinned.

Ian sat up and mickey sat back on his thighs, pulling the Gallagher's shirt up.  
"Shit, he got you bad."  
"Fuck it, it's just bruises, nothing serious."  
"Are you the nurse now?"  
"Come on", he leaned closer and kissed Mickey's cheek, "Seeing you holding that guy at gunpoint to make him stop hitting me turned me on."

"You just got a beat up from your boyfriend and all you think about, is sex?"  
"Ex-boyfriend, Mickey, that's my point... I waited all weekend for this. If I'm gonna die of organ failure because of that prick, I can still do that in an hour. Now I get to kiss you, and maybe do... other things", he grinded his hips up into Mickey who chuckled.  
"You really that horny?"  
"I would let you ride me on the floor right here right now.", he said dirtily and lay back down on the floor.

Mickey grinned down at him and took his own shirt off, gently rubbing some of the blood off his face before kissing him again.


	5. A year later

**A year later**

When Ian met Yevgeny and Mickey, the child was 3, almost 4, now he was 5.

Ian was handling the bipolar and the relationship with Mickey helped him a lot. He was in love with the man, he knew that much.

Despite being a couple for over a year, Mickey hadn't quite told Yevgeny about it - or anyone for that matter.

For most people Ian was just a friend, a neighbour and that's it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian woke up next to Mickey, an arm draped over his body.  
He smelled him for a moment, he liked how Mickey smelled.  
Then he started leaving little kisses on his neck, nibbling on his ear lightly.

"Gallagher, stop, let me sleep" he mumbled "I was working the whole night"  
"It's already noon and your boyfriend is horny" Ian whispered into his ear.

Mickey chuckled.  
"My boyfriend is always horny" Mickey mumbled "But I'm not complaining"  
"How about some wake up sex for the right start into the day?" Ian grinned and already started pulling and pushing on Mickeys clothes.

"Did you take your pills this morning?"  
"Yeah, got up had a little breakfast and took them and went back to bed. But I'm so lonely without you. I hate it when you work nights"

"But I've got Fridays and Saturdays off" Mickey grinned and turned around to him.  
"And we got a few hours just to ourselves before Yevgeny comes"  
Mickey smiled and kissed him.  
"That a yes to morning sex?" Ian asked grinning.  
"A dick a day keeps the doctor, away right?", he mumbled and already pushed his briefs down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've been thinking...." Ian said later when they had a little lunch, or breakfast for Mickey, "Maybe we could finally tell Yevgeny about us"

Mickey just shook his head.  
"Why not? I mean, I got it, in the beginning you didn't want him to get too used to me in case it wouldn't work out. But we're together for a year now and he thinks I'm just the neighbour."

"You aren't just a neighbour; the kid loves you"  
"And I like him. Why can't he know? Why can't I kiss you in front of him? My family knows about you."

"What do you want? Is he supposed to call you daddy Ian? Do you want to be his new mommy?", he grinned at him.  
"I want him to know what you mean to me."  
"He is a child, Ian, he barely understands what anything of this means."

Mickey noticed the upset look on Ian's face.  
"Hey, freckle, it's not like you're a stranger to him, alright? He adores you; he would already be devastated if you're gone. To me, you're family and I would do a lot for you to be just happy. But the kid comes first. If he sees you as family and you leave, he's gonna be sad and I won't be able to explain it."

"Why would I leave?"  
Mickey shrugged " I'm sure you can have a thousand better guys than me"  
Ian got up and hugged Mickey from behind.  
"I don't want anyone else than you, babe" He whispered "I want to be part of your life, officially. I haven't met Svet properly as your boyfriend or your friends. You've met my family."

Mickey sighed.  
"I know... I know you're right... And you deserve to know them and get the same level of family I get from you... But I can always only think about you leaving me, now, that you're so much better with the pills."  
"I'm not leaving, babe, ever. I promise. I'm not your stupid hoe of an ex. I want Yevgeny to know who I am to you and I want to meet your sister and your friends."  
"You've met my friends and my wife."  
"As your boyfriend, I want them to know that I'm your boyfriend."

Mickey licked his lips.  
"Alright... I'll tell Yev... But if he starts calling you dad you officially are not allowed to leave, ever."  
Ian smiled and nodded and kissed his forehead.  
"Don't get me wrong. Not this weekend. Not yet. Svetlana is breaking up with Nika, he has a hard time right now, it's not the right time to come to him with big news and more change."

"Yeah, I understand."  
"Soon though, I promise."  
"I just don't want you to hide me"  
"I'm not hiding you. If anyone would ask me, I'd say you're my boyfriend. And I would be proud, because... look at you" he grinned and caressed his cheek, before kissing him softly.

"Is Svetlana really breaking up with her girlfriend?"  
"Yeah. Yevy is pretty upset, you should be glad you weren't here last weekend. She always drags him into her relationships and break ups. That's exactly what I'm always talking about", Mickey complained.

"What about your sister?"  
"Huh?"  
"Mandy. I want to meet her. And you still didn't tell me what happened to her yet."  
"You are really demanding for one morning. And not in the good way" Mickey mumbled.

Ian pecked his cheek "I can be demanding in all the ways you want, peach ass" he whispered seductively.  
He kissed down his cheek and his neck, he walked around him and looked him in the eyes "get on your knees and suck my dick" he demanded.

Mickey grinned up at him.  
"Yes, sir" he breathed and sank to his knees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey was right, Yevgeny was upset because his mom and Nika broke up. They've been fighting for weeks and now Svetlana was throwing her ex-girlfriend's stuff out of the house piece by piece.

Yevgeny sat on the couch and mindlessly stared at the TV.  
Ian entered the apartment.

"Hey Yevgeny" he grinned and ruffled his blonde hair "Feels like I didn't see you in ages"  
Yevgeny just ducked his head away under his hand and didn't answer.

Ian raised his eyebrows and walked into the kitchen were Mickey was leaning against a counter.  
"Hey babe" he whispered and pecked his lips when he made sure Yevy wouldn't see them.  
"Gallagher, you're late" he whispered.

Ian looked back to the kid "Is he okay?"  
"He's like this the whole time already. The Break-up of Svet and Nika is pretty hard on him. He didn't even react when I said I'd make him his favourite food."

"You tried with a Mandy story?"  
"Later. Maybe you can try? Maybe you're luckier than me... He asked if you'd come over tonight."

Ian nodded and sat down next to Yevgeny.  
"Hey Yev... what are you watching?"  
Yevgeny just shrugged.  
"Do you maybe want to watch Ninja Turtles? You love Ninja Turtles, right? The yellow one is your favourite, isn't he?"

Yevgeny just nodded.  
Ian looked helplessly back at Mickey who just shrugged as well.

It didn't become any better. Yevy was just upset and sad the whole time and wouldn't talk. He didn't even want a Mandy story when it was time to go to bed. Mickey was worrying so much, he was close to freaking out, Ian could feel it. The man was completely on edge the whole afternoon, even when Yev was asleep and the two men sat on the couch watching TV.

"I'm so angry with her." Mickey mumbled "I told her a thousand times to not drag him into this."  
"I understand now, why you didn't want to tell him about us. I don't think we'd ever break up, but... you just want to protect your son and I admire you for that"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Monday Ian was coming home from work and checked the mail like every day.

He planned on taking a shower in his apartment, change into more comfy clothes and have a lazy evening. Since Mickey was scheduled to work nights now, he would have to go to bed alone and wait until his boyfriend came home around three and crawl up to him in their bed.

Outside the door of the apartment building stood a confused looking guy reading the name tags.  
"Hey, can I help you?" Ian asked the other boy had red hair too, he was kinda attractive with his light blue eyes. He had a slim body and was smaller than Ian.

"Uhm, yeah probably. You live here?"  
"Yeah."  
"Do you know the Milkovich guy that lives here?" He pointed at the little name tags.  
"Yeah, Mickey, he's my..." Ian wasn't sure what he should say, he didn't know this guy or how Mickey knew him "neighbour."

"Oh, he's not opening up, do you know where he is?"  
"At work. Must have left about half an hour ago, he won't be home until late at night."  
"Oh." He said again and scratched the back of his neck "When would be a good time to be able to talk to him, do you know that?"

Ian looked the guy up and down, what did he want from Mickey?  
"I'm sorry, who are you exactly?"  
"Just an old friend" he shrugged "We didn't had contact since school, and I was around the neighbourhood and thought I could visit him. His brother told me where he lives."

Ian sighed "Try around two in the afternoon tomorrow." He said and walked onto the apartment after saying good bye to the man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey sat on the couch and watched TV.  
Tuesday's and Wednesday's Ian and his working schedule worked out, so they had around three hours between Ian coming home and Mickey needing to go. Sometimes it were the only three hours of the day they would see each other.

A knock on the door caught his attention.  
Ian wouldn't knock, he had a key.

Mickey grinned and went to the door.  
"What did you lose your fucking keys agai-" he stopped suddenly staring at the man in front of him.  
Despite the red hair, it wasn't Ian.

"Hey Mick"  
Mickey just threw the door into his face again, but the other man was quick and held it open.  
"Mickey wait"  
"What do want here Eric?"

Eric, there he was. Mickeys teenage love, the first boy he had ever had feelings for, the first one he opened up to and who he let into his life - just to be left alone in his darkest hours.

"I want to talk to you"  
"But I don't want to talk to you, now fuck off!"  
"No! I want to apologize! Let me in, please, let's talk..."

Mickey didn't want to hear anything that came out of his mouth.  
He didn't love Eric anymore. He had loved him and cried about him for years. And he was over him for years.  
Now he had Ian. He loved Ian, he was sure of that, and he wanted no one else than him.

"What would there be to talk about?"  
"I just want to... I want to know what happened to you over the last years... please?"

He couldn't help himself. He had loved this boy once and when Mickey loved someone he did it so fiercely and so strong it was bound to shatter him one day.

"Just talk" he said sternly and hesitantly let the man in. Ian would be home soon, but he probably would go to his apartment first and change his clothes.

Eric came in and sat down on the couch, looking around the living room.  
Mickey stood across from him.

"You still married?"  
"Officially, yeah. But she doesn't live here."  
Eric nodded and spotted the photos on the wall.  
"That your kid?"

"My son, yeah. Yevgeny."  
"Wow. He's cute... how old is he again?"  
"Five. That makes six years since you left, in case you're still struggling with math."

Eric sighed.  
"You sure he is yours?"  
Mickey frowned at him.  
"What kind of fucked question is that? I raised this boy and I love him, he's my son. End of discussion.", he said angrily.

Eric flinched at his harsh tone.  
"Alright, alright. Sorry. Didn't know you'd actually care about that kid or that Bitch who pushed him out" he mumbled.  
"How would you know? You left."

They looked at each other. Mickey watched his every movement, staring him down. Eric looked guilty.

"I'm sorry."  
Mickey just scoffed.  
"I needed you. I loved you! And you just... walked away!" He looked away and swallowed hard.

"You married a woman! I asked you not to do it!"  
"What choice did I have?" Mickey yelled "What choice? Dad forced me to marry her and you know that! You fucking... you saw what he did to me! To you! To us..."

"Mick-" he started sadly.  
"It doesn't matter now. You didn't understand back then, and you probably also don't understand it now. But it doesn't matter anymore. I don't want you anymore, Eric. I've got a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend? I thought... you don't do boyfriends... you never wanted to be my boyfriend."  
"I was seventeen. I was terrified of my dad. He's dead for almost four years now and I can't be fucking bothered to be honest. I like Dick so fuck it. If you would've given me some time... But you just left. I was nineteen and even more terrified of my dad and fucking... broken to pieces and you just left!"

"I'm sorry" Eric sobbed, and a tear rolled down his cheek "I'm so sorry! I couldn't deal with all of this shit, Mickey, I'm sorry I left you alone!"  
"Stop crying" Mickey said coldly "You need to leave, now. I don't want you here. I don't want to see you; I don't want to hear whatever you have to say. Just go and never come back!"

Eric didn't move, he just sat on the couch and cried silently.  
"Now before my boyfriend comes home." Mickey said and shoved him lightly.  
"Isn't there any chance that you forgive me?" He whispered.  
"There is nothing to forgive! You don't matter to me anymore, Eric! Now get out!"

Mickey heard the key in the door.  
In the next moment Ian stood in the room. Freshly showered in one of his tight shirts, showing off his perfect body.

Mickey and Eric both stared at him.  
"Uhm... hey?" He looked confused from Mickey to the stranger he had met just the day before.

"What that's your boyfriend?" Eric asked and rubbed the tears from his face.  
"And who are you now exactly?" Ian asked, just an old friend my ass.

"He's no one. No one at all. I'm not saying it again, Eric. Go! Leave! Now!"  
Eric just scoffed, eyes red from crying and shot Ian a hateful look on the way out.

Ian looked at Mickey with a raised eyebrow.  
"I met him yesterday when I came from work. Stood outside the door looking for you. You've got anything to tell me?"

Mickey sighed deeply.  
"That was Eric... the guy from when... what happened with Svet. Who I told you about."  
"What, that was him?" Ian asked and looked to the door "Can I beat him up?"

"No, Ian. Just forget about it. I don't want to have anything to do with him, ever again, alright?"  
Ian wanted to slap himself for telling that Eric guy when Mickey would be home.

"Wait" he looked at Mickey and remembered how Eric was crying when he came in "Why was here anyways? What did he want?"

Mickey shrugged and walked into the kitchen; Ian followed.  
"Don't know. He apologized a lot. Was surprised I have a connection to my own son; can you believe that? Asked if I knew if he was mine, fucking asshole, as if I would care! He's my kid!"

Ian nodded "So he wants you back?"  
"What?"  
"Eric, he comes here, apologizes... He wants you back."  
Mickey looked at him confused.

"Do you want him back?" Ian asked after a long pause.  
"What? Why would I even consider banging him again? I've got you."

"This isn't about banging someone. You loved him."  
"Yeah, lov _ed_. Past tense. I was never that good in English, but I think it means that it's something I used to do and don't do anymore."

"You were in love with him for years. That doesn't just vanish!"  
"It didn't just vanish! I loved him, he left me, I cried, I drank, I picked fights and got it together in the end. I don't want him. I want you.", he explained loudly. He didn't want this to turn into a fight, but it was close to one already.

Ian bit his bottom lip.  
"So, if he comes here and asks you to be his boyfriend and break up with me... you'd just say _no thanks_?"  
"I wouldn't thank him, but yeah! I don't care about him Ian!" He insisted "He's the past. And I'm done with him.", he licked his lips and softened his voice looking up at him "You're my future. Not Eric."

Ian smiled and kissed his forehead.  
"Sometimes I forget how cute and romantic you can be"  
"Don't call me that" Mickey mumbled and kissed his lips.


	6. Mickey and Eric

No matter how hard Ian tried, he couldn't forget about Eric and Mickey.  
Mick hadn't told him so much about their relationship - just that they fucked around, and Mickey fell in love, that Eric gave him his first kiss and he was the first person who's dick he would suck - before that he wouldn't have done it to any of the guys he fucked. Then Svetlana and Terry happened, and Eric left him alone after the wedding.

No matter how hard Mickey insisted he was done with Eric... they had so much history together...  
And Eric obviously wanted Mickey back. Also, unlike Ian, Eric knew Mickeys family.

Ian was lost in his thoughts when he was on his way home.  
When the door of his apartment building came into sight, he stopped suddenly.

In front of the door stood Mickey and Eric, talking.  
Mickey seemed annoyed and Eric talked and talked and talked, Ian couldn't understand what he was saying but he looked like he was begging Mickey.

Ian watched as Eric cupped Mickeys cheeks And looked him deeply into his eyes.

Ian loved Mickeys eyes, he could stare into them for hours, never getting tired of the beautiful blue shade.  
To think someone else got to look at him like that made him mad.

Mickey and Eric looked at each other and for a second Ian thought Mickey would lean in and kiss him.  
But Mickey just looked at him. And Ian saw the look in his eyes. He came closer and closer and he saw the way Mickey looked at Eric: Love.

Love and want and trust. He gave Ian a similar look but not quite as intense. Ian was sure every second now Mickey would lean in and kiss that other guy.

Ian watched them in horror, already ready to cry.

But Mickey just shook his head and gently pushed him away.  
Ian was relieved, Eric sobbed loudly and looked around, trying to get his eyes off of Mickey -then he spotted Ian.

The Gallagher could feel Eric's eyes burning him.  
Mickey followed his eyes and looked at Ian as well, surprised at first and then he smiled.

Ian walked towards them and Mickey reached his hand out to him.  
"Hey, freckles" he mumbled and kissed his cheek.  
"Hey, what are you doing out here?" He asked ignoring Eric.  
"Was grocery shopping. Bought you the candy you like. And we're having your favourite for dinner."

Ian knew what Mickey was doing, he was treating Ian like Yevgeny - When Mickey felt guilty, he buys all the stuff Yevy liked no matter how unhealthy they were.

Mickey felt guilty towards Ian... because of Eric.  
Ian didn't know what to do with this information.

Mickey ignored Eric better than Ian and just pulled his boyfriend into the building and to their apartments.

"Do you want to come in now or head to yours first?"  
Ian shrugged "You mind me smelling like I ran around in the sun in a uniform all day long?"  
"Maybe it turns me on" he whispered seductively into his ear "and I prefer it to you smelling like old men, glitter and expensive drinks."

Ian gave him a half smile while Mickey opened the door to his apartment.  
"What was that out there?" Ian finally asked while Mickey put away the groceries.

"What do you mean?"  
"You know exactly what I mean."  
Mickey sighed.  
"It was nothing. Okay? Eric just apologised again and said some bullshit... it's not a big deal."

Ian picked up the candy Mickey bought him.  
"Does he want you back?" He asked quietly.  
"Yeah" Mickey sighed after a moment "He might have said something like that."

"Then it's a pretty big deal."  
"Why?"  
"Why? My boyfriend's great big teenage love wants him back and I'm supposed to act like nothing is happening?"  
"Nothing is happening, Ian. I'm not getting back together with him. Ever. I didn't even consider it for a second.

"Maybe because if you would actually consider it, you would go back to him and you know it."  
"That's not true"  
"Why do you feel so guilty then?"

Mickey turned around to him, away from the fridge were just put some stuff in.  
"What? Who says I feel guilty?"  
Ian held up the candy.

"I'm not Yevgeny, Mick. I'm not five. I know what you're doing... the candy, the food? Next thing I'm getting a movie _and_ a Mandy story before bed or what?"

Mickey sighed and took the Candy from him.  
"I'm happy with you Ian. I don't want to lose you. I don't want Eric. I really don't. I loved him, yeah. But it's only you now, Ian. Only you. I swear.", he whispered and looked up at him again.

Ian smiled and pulled him into a hug.  
"I wish Eric would've never come back" Mickey mumbled "I never thought, I'd give you reason to question my feelings for you."  
"I only question how you can choose a sicko like me, if you could have someone normal."  
"You know I don't care about the bipolar. You're not normal in all the right ways Gallagher. I couldn't be happier than I am with you. Listen to me, you make me sound like a fag."

Ian smiled at his last comment.  
"You don't feel like you're fucking a patient sometimes?"  
"No, most of my patients are ugly or women... or my sister."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday.  
When Ian got up this morning, he had woken up Mickey for a nice good bye kiss during that Mickey was still half asleep, because he knew he wouldn't see him until Friday noon. They were lucky that they both had Fridays off.  
But Mickey worked Sunday night to have Friday afternoon, Saturday and most of Sunday to spend with Yevgeny. Ian was working Saturdays.

When Ian came back from work Mickey was already at the hospital.  
He checked his mailbox and walked up to his apartment right next to Mickeys.

Surprisingly there was a guy waiting - Eric.  
"The fuck do you want here? Who let you in?" He asked calmly.  
"I just want to talk to Mickey."  
"He's at work. He's working nights, now fuck off."

Ian was about to unlock his door when Eric asked:  
"Does he love you?"  
Ian looked at him.  
"What?"

"Does he love you? Did he tell you that he loves you?"  
"Did he tell you?"  
"No. Not back then, but he told me Tuesday. He told me, that he loved me. You think he loves you the same?"

"Maybe he loves me more. The fuck would you know?"  
"You've been with him for how long? A few months?"  
"A year. More than a year."  
"We've been together for two years. Almost three. And I'm sure he still loved me after I left."

"You weren't together. No matter if he once loved you or not, I'm his boyfriend. He's with me."  
"But does he want you more than me? He always wanted me. He came back again and again. He couldn't stay away, and neither could I - we love each other!"

"You left him! You hurt him in ways I never would!"  
"I hurt him in ways you never could because he doesn't love you the way he loves me!" and with that Eric hit a nerve.

"I was part of his life for a long time. I'm his sister's best friend, we grew up just a few houses apart, I know everything about him! Have you ever even met his family?"

"I'm good with his son. The Kid loves me.", Ian stated.  
"His son my ass! It's not his son! That fucking whore fucked him after she fucked a bunch of other guys as well, like his dad! The kid could also be his brother! Or not even related to him at all!", Eric yelled.

"Doesn't matter he's Mickeys son. He raised him and he loves him. And apart from that, they fucking look alike, he's definitely his biological son. And the way you talk about Yevy alone, proves that you and Mickey would never have a future! Never! His son is the most important thing in his life to him!"

"No, his sister is the most important thing in his life. Have you ever even met her? I was her best friend! Mickey and me together beat up the guys who hurt her. We've got a past and a history that you will never have! What connects the two of you? A fucking shared wall?" He pointed at the wall between his and Mickeys door.

Ian swallowed.  
"Fuck off" Ian just mumbled and unlocked his door.  
"You know that I'm right, boyfriend!" He heard Eric saying while he closed the door "He's gonna leave you, he's gonna choose me!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian sat on Mickeys couch. He was crying on and off since Eric left. Now, he just stared at his pills in front of him.

What connected him with Mickey was that he took care of him. They fell in love because Ian needed someone and Mickey was that someone, so he took care of him despite not really knowing him at all.

But Eric was probably right - Mickey would choose him and not Ian. They had history. And if he would lose Mickey anyways, why would he even take the pills? Why would it matter if he was medicated or not if there was no one who cared? If there was no Mickey?

Ian took the pills out. He knew Mickey secretly counted them to keep track whether Ian was really taking them.  
Ian took the pills he was supposed to swallow and walked over to the bathroom, he let them slowly drop into the toilet. Then he flushed.

When Mickey came back home hours later Ian was still up.  
"Hey, hot stuff, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in bed?"  
"Waited for you"  
Mickey smiled and walked over, sitting down next to Ian. He pecked his cheek and pulled his face to him, kissing his lips softly.

"I've met Eric today"  
Mickey pulled back from the kiss and looked at him with raised eyebrows.  
"He waited in front of your door."  
"You shouldn't talk to him, Ian. Don't listen to what he says. He's just trying to get into your head."

"You don't even know what he said"  
"Since it's five in the morning and you waited for me, he said something to get into your head, something that you thought about for hours and can't drop. Drop it, Ian. He's a douche bag. Come on, let's go to bed"

"Hey, uhm... how's Mandy doing?"  
Mickey frowned at him.  
"Unchanged", he shrugged.  
Ian waited for more, Mickey knew that.  
"It's late, Gallagher. It's definitely not the right time for that story. I know you want to hear it, but not at five in the morning.", Mickey got up from the couch and wanted to go to the bedroom.

"Does he know?", Ian asked suddenly what had him stopping mid-step.  
"Who?"  
"Eric. Does he know what happened to Mandy?"

Mickey pressed his lips together.  
"Yes.", he mumbled eventually, "But because he was her best friend since they were kids. Not because I had something with him."  
"Why can't you just tell me-"

"Ian!", Mickey interrupted him with a stern voice, "Leave it, please. You can't compare Mandy and Eric being childhood friends and me not telling you this. Did it ever cross your mind over the past year, that maybe it's not an easy topic for me?"  
Ian opened his mouth and shut it again. He sighed.  
Now he felt like an asshole.

"You're right... I'm sorry"  
Mickey just shook his head and walked towards his bedroom.  
"Do you still want me to come with you or should I go over to mine?"  
Mickey stopped again and sighed.  
"I don't care to be honest. I just pulled an eight hour shift and it's a one hour drive from and to work, Gallagher, I go to sleep now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian had fallen asleep on the couch.  
When he woke up it was already noon. So, he also hadn't taken his pills this morning. He looked to the bedroom door.

Mickey would leave him anyways... he would leave him for Eric, the other handsome ginger. The boy he had so much history with, who he loved so much for such a long time, who he shared so many memories with, who was the best friend of the most important person in his life - his sister.

Ian didn't even know Mandy; he didn't know what had happened to her.  
He had only known Mickey for a year and a half, he didn't know if Mickey loved him at all, their history and their connection consisted of Ian's illness and Mickey being a nurse and Mickey threatening Ian's ex. And now Ian stopped taking the pills, he really deserved Mickey leaving him.

Ian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He could as well just make the most of the time left, right?  
He went into the kitchen and made breakfast for Mickey. Even though Mickey was the cook in the relationship, he loved Ian's pancakes.

Half an hour later he brought a plate with pancakes and a glass of orange juice into Mickey's bedroom.  
He put the breakfast on the bedside table and sat down on the edge of the bed.  
He ran a hand through his black hair and leaned down to kiss his cheek.

"Mick?", he whispered.  
Mickey stirred in his sleep.  
"Babe wake up"  
"No", he mumbled.  
"Breakfast is ready."  
Mickey's eyes opened slowly, and he looked up at Ian.  
"Why didn't you come to bed yesterday?"

Ian shrugged, "I felt like a douche bag... I didn't deserve sleeping next to you."  
"Deserve? What are you talking about? Sleeping next to me isn't a privilege to earn.", he mumbled.  
"I made you breakfast. Pancakes."  
Mickey grinned, "Come to bed first."

Ian smiled and crawled into bed next to him, Mickey sat up and took the breakfast from his bedside table.  
"I'm sorry for what I said today morning."  
"It's okay, we were both tired. Forget about it. Did you take your pills?"  
"Of course,", Ian lied.

Mickey smiled.  
"How about we have breakfast and then I suck you off?", he kissed him grinning.  
"Sounds good"


	7. Don't leave us

Yevgeny sat in his room and played with his little toy knights.  
"He's still like last weekend.", Ian sighed, "Should I try?"  
"Yeah, you do that. I'll go shopping real quick, all right? Buy some sweets, I think we're having-"  
"Let me guess, the weird Ukrainian food hat I can't pronounce again? Like last weekend and the weekend before that?"  
"It's his favourite", Mickey shrugged.

"Yevy being sad about Svetlana and Nika is not your fault. You don't need to feel guilty, alright?"  
"Just want to cheer him up", Mickey mumbled.  
Ian smiled.  
"I know you do. Don't worry, he's gonna be okay."  
Mickey nodded.

"Yevy? I go to the store, will be back in a moment. Ian stays with you alright?"  
"Okay", Yevgeny just mumbled.

Mickey sighed and pulled Ian out of his son's door to give him a quick good-bye kiss.

"I don't know what I would do without you", he mumbled and hugged him, "Don't leave me, Gallagher, okay? Don't."  
Ian hugged him back, tightly.  
"Can I bring you something from the store?"  
"Babe, no. I'm not a child. Just come back soon."  
Mickey nodded and kissed him again before quickly leaving.

Ian sighed and went back to Yevgeny.  
"Hey Yevy. How are you, huh? You still don't feel like talking?"  
Yevgeny shrugged and looked at him.  
"I want to build a fort, match."  
"Without your daddy?"  
"I want to build it now."  
"Okay, if you want, we can do that now. In the living room?"  
Yevgeny nodded and got up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Mickey came back, Yevgeny and Ian were in the middle of their little building project.

"Hey... what are you doing?"  
"Match and I build a fort.", Yevgeny stuck his head out of the sheets.  
"Oh really? Can I come in as well?"  
"Yeah, but you have to pay for the entry."  
"Pay? With what?"  
"You bought candy?"  
"Maybe..."  
"You can pay with candy.", he hid under the sheets and blankets of the fort again.

Mickey smiled and took his jacket and his shoes off. He quickly put the candy in a bowl and kneeled down in front of the fort.

"Can I come in?"  
Yevgeny stuck his head out of the entry.  
"You got candy?"  
Mickey held out the bowl.  
"Okay, come in"

Mickey crawled into the fort. Ian smiled warmly at him.  
Like usually they had included the TV into the fort and after Yevgeny was done with playing knights with Mickey and Ian, he allowed Mickey to go and cook dinner while Ian was supposed to stay with him in the fort and watch Ninja Turtles with him.

Yevgeny leaned against Ian while watching the movie.  
"Match?" He whispered, Ian found it adorable that Mickey and his son shared the need to call him by nicknames and not his real name unless it was serious.

"Yeah Yevgeny?"  
"You're not gonna leave too, are you?"  
Ian raised his eyebrows at the child.  
"What? Why would I leave?"

"Nika left. I liked her. I like you more, you can't leave pops.", Ian stared at him... did Yevgeny know?  
"Pops is happy with you, you can't leave him, then he'll be sad, and I don't want pops to be sad. And I will be sad too."

Ian blinked a few times in disbelief.  
"Yevgeny, what do you think what kind of relationship your pops and I have?"  
"You're a couple, like mommy and Nika were. You always cuddle when You sleep, like them."  
"Oh" Ian mumbled.  
"Don't leave us" Yevgeny mumbled and Ian felt the strong need to hug the child, so he did.  
"I would never."

He couldn't help but feel sadder than before. He had wanted Yevgeny to know, but now Mickey would break up with him soon and Yevgeny would be highly disappointed in him.

But maybe he would like Eric even more than him. Eric at least wasn't mentally ill; Eric wouldn't be bad for Yevgeny ever... except that Eric seemed to hate Yevgeny.  
But Mickey wouldn't stay with him just because his son liked him, not if he realised how much more he loved Eric.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yevgeny insisted on sleeping in the fort with Mickey and Ian. They watched a movie -during that Yevgeny fell asleep - and the little boy somehow was draped over both of them, cuddling them.

Now Yevgeny lay wrapped in a blanket on the other end of the fort while Mickey kissed Ian gently.  
"You're amazing, red." He whispered "You're perfect"

Ian chuckled "stop it Mick..."  
"I mean it. You made Yevgeny come out of his shell and play with us again. I knew that you're good for me but you're also good for him."

Ian only gave him a half smile.  
"What? What is it? Come on, something's up with you, tell me."  
Ian looked at him for a long time before whispering:  
"I didn't take the pills"

"What?"  
"Today morning and yesterday evening... I didn't take them."  
"Why? Ian, you were doing so great! What ha-" he stared at him "It's Eric isn't it?"

Ian looked away and Mickey couldn't help himself but to slap his arm.  
"You idiot! How could you let him into your head to a point where you don't take your pills anymore? What the fuck?", he whisper yelled.

"Shht, you're gonna wake him up!"  
"Ian, for fucks sake! How can you let such an unimportant, invalid fucking douche bag mess with your head like that?" Yevgeny stirred in his sleep "Fuck. Get out of the fort. We're gonna fucking talk about this, now!"

They crawled out of the fort and Ian leaned against the kitchen counters and guiltily looked at the ground.  
"So, why?" Mickey eventually asked.  
He wasn't just mad at Ian for not taking the pills, he knew that if Ian didn't take them there had to be a big reason for it, a reason Ian didn't talk about to Mickey and that was what really upset him.

"I'm just being a realist" he mumbled "You love Eric. You're gonna realise eventually that you want him not me. That he's better for you. That he's the love of your life, not me. You're gonna leave me for him and you're gonna be happy with him. And that's okay because I want you to be happy even if that means that you're not with me. I saw how you fucking looked at him, Mickey. You want him. He's the better choice. You're gonna leave me. And if I lose you one way or another, I can also just stop with the pills doesn't matter."

Mickey just stared at him in disbelief.  
His words hurt him.  
"This isn't about choice, Ian. I can't belief I have to explain this. This isn't fucking Twilight! I'm not deciding for and against one of you. I want you. I don't even consider going back to Eric a possibility! There is no deciding! It's just you! Only you! You goddamn fucking stupid idiot!"

Ian bit his bottom lip.  
"And you should know that because I'm pretty sure I've already said all of that a few times! You're fucking sabotaging yourself and you're sabotaging us! Don't you get that?"  
"Are you a nurse and a therapist now?"

Mickey opened his mouth to speak bit shut it again and sighed.  
"You want me to treat you like a patient? That's what you want? To treat you like someone who can't handle their own life? Who has to be watched at all times? Who has to be fed and washed and sedated?" He got angry again while he spoke, and he got louder, "I work with people who are unable to survive on their own, Ian! I never treated you like a patient and I never will, because you're not one of them! But if you wanna play the part and sabotage all of this that we have - then fucking have at it! Ruin it! Ruin it all! Stop taking the pills, talk about breaking up while I had no intentions to do so! Fuck you, seriously!"

They stood across from each other in the kitchen. Mickey was furious and he was dangerous when he was furious. He wouldn't hit Ian or anything, but he might say things he would regret later on.  
So, he quickly made his way for the door, taking his jacket and his shoes with him.

"Mickey, wait where are you going?"  
"Out! I'll be back later. Stay here" he said sternly and left the apartment.

Ian sighed deeply and slid down on a wall. He took a shaky breath and then he felt tears brimming his eyes.

"Match?" He heard a low voice from the fort.  
Through the sheets he could see Yevgeny's shadow. He sat up and looked around.

Ian quickly dried his tears and crawled back into the fort.  
"Hey Yevgeny, why are you up?"

He stopped talking when he noticed tear stains on the boy's face.  
"Did you cry?" He whispered.  
"You said you don't leave." He whispered, "Why did you say to pops that he will be a couple with someone else?"

Ian looked at the sad boy.  
Shit, he made Yevgeny cry. He made his boyfriends child cry. He was an awful person... He was bad for them.

"Yevgeny I'm so sorry you heard that. But... You see..." He sat down next to him "Now... You're too young to understand this. I shouldn't talk to you about it, it's not fair to put that on you."

"I'm not too young! Why is everybody saying that? Mommy says I'm too young to understand why Nika has to go. Now I'm too young to understand why you want pops to love someone else! You said you never leave!"

Ian sighed.  
"There is this other man. His name is Eric. He used to be your pop's boyfriend once. Now he's back. And he is better for your pops. He's gonna make him happy."  
"But you make him happy! And you make me happier! We need you not other guy."

"He's got red hair too you won't even notice the difference."  
"Yes, I will! I don't want another Match! I already have a Match!"  
"I don't want to leave you or your pops, I really not. But I'm not good for him. I'm sorry."

"He said you're perfect. I heard him saying that to you!"  
"Yevgeny-"  
"You said that you don't leave!" His little voice got louder and more upset "You promised you stay and don't leave us! You promised to not leave us!" Yevgeny yelled at him and started crying, having Ian at the verge of tears too, the blonde boy got up and ran to his room, throwing the door shut.


	8. How could you?

Mickey walked through the neighbourhood. He needed to cool down before going back to Ian.

Suddenly he found himself in front of a building, Eric had told him he lived in.  
He didn't know why he came here. But he knew that he was fucking angry at both of his redheads.

He went up to the main door and pushed the little bell next to Eric's name. He crashed at his sister's.  
"What the fuck, who the fuck is there? Do You know how late it is?" Eric's groggy voice was heard over the speaker.  
"It's Mickey."  
"Mick? Why are you walking around in the middle of the night? Wait I let you in."

The door buzzed open and Mickey walked up a few stairs until he reached Eric's floor, who stood in the door to the apartment.

"Hey Mick." He smiled "what's going on? It's fucking late."  
Mickey walked up to him and looked at his face.

"How could you?" He asked coldly.  
"What?" Eric asked surprised, did he really think Mickey was here for some reunion of some sort? "What are you talking about?"

"How could you?" Mickey repeated "How could you just sit there and stare? How could you just joke about it and mock me? How could you just fucking leave? Eric! How?", his voice became louder with every sentence "And how could you come back and think I'd just let you back into my life? How could you fucking worm your way into Ian's head? How could you ruin the best relationship I ever had? How could you?" He screamed at him by now "everything was great, and you fucked it all up! My life finally worked out perfectly! And you came in and ruined it!"

"Perfectly? You're fucking a psycho; you're married to a whore and you act like her broken-condom hooker kid is your child! And even if he is, he's a fucking rape-child and not worth any of your time!" Eric yelled at him.

Mickey didn't even wait a second, he lunged for him and punched him across the face.  
"You're not talking about my son like that!" He growled and shoved him against a wall, punching him again and breaking his nose "You're not gonna say another word about my son! He's my whole fucking world! He and Ian! There is no room for you! I don't want you; I don't need you; I don't love you! I love Ian, more than I ever loved you!" He choked his words out while being close to tears, then he just kneed him in the balls.

Eric doubled over.  
"And who do you think you are for using Mandy to make Ian feel bad? You act like her best friend, you left her alone too! You couldn't deal with it! With her being sick! You split! And you wanna tell Ian, that you're better for me because you once had a connection to her? You used my little sister's condition to make my boyfriend doubt our relationship! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Mick! I- I only wanted to show you that he's not good enough", Eric groaned, "He doubted your relationship already? Sounds like a really strong bond you have there!", he looked up at him, "What we had, Mick, that was something real!"  
"I don't love you anymore!", Mickey screamed at him, "It was years ago and I'm over it! Why can't you just leave me alone? I told you, no! I told you, I don't want you anymore! I changed over the last years, I'm not the scared boy from back then anymore. I grew up, you should try that!", he took a deep breath, "Stay away from me. Stay away from my family."

Mickey turned around and left the building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Milkovich quietly opened the door to his apartment. He's been gone for a few hours.  
He was rather surprised, when he found Ian sitting on the couch.

"You took down the fort?", he asked after staring at him for a while.  
"Yevgeny heard us fighting. He cried and uh, ran to his room. I didn't know what to do with myself so... I took down the fort."

"He cried?"  
"He knew about us. Apparently since the beginning, he just never said anything. He asked me not to leave, like Nika, and when he heard us fighting... he had kind of a meltdown I guess.", he sighed, "I'm sorry. I know this is exactly what you tried to prevent."

Mickey walked over to him and sat next to him on the couch.  
"Where were you?", Ian asked eventually.  
Mickey held his hand with his wounded knuckles up, "Eric. Made a few things clear. He won't come back here. Except if he has some death wish or something."

"I'm sorry", Ian mumbled, "I'm sorry I let him into my head. I'm sorry I sabotaged us."  
"It's okay.", Mickey whispered and looked at him, he took his hand in his.

"I love you", Mickey said eventually.  
Ian raised his eyebrows at him.  
"Really?", he whispered.  
"You think I'd just randomly say that? Yes, bitch, I do. More than I ever loved Eric. Like I said, it's you, only you, Gallagher."

Ian smiled and pulled him close, hesitantly bringing their lips together in a slow kiss.

"I love you too" Ian whispered when he pulled away again, their lips just inches apart.  
Mickey smiled  
"I'm angry about what you said though." Mickey whispered.  
"I'm sorry. Really."

Mickey nodded and hugged him, pulling him down with him to cuddle on the couch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey woke up again with the weight of Ian on top of him - nothing he really minded.

He breathed in his boyfriend's scent.  
He looked to the side and was startled when he looked into baby blue eyes.

"Yevy?" He mumbled and reached one hand out to him "Hey, kiddo, Ian said you cried last night, is that true?"

Yevgeny stood in front of him in his pyjamas and with his favourite stuffed animal. He nodded slowly.

"I don't want Ian to go, pops" he mumbled.  
"I know. Neither do I. But look he's still here. You don't need to worry, buddy."

"I don't want another match. I don't want to have anything to do with that Eric-guy!"  
"He told you about Eric?"  
Yevgeny nodded.  
"I don't want Eric to be my new daddy! I want Ian to be my new daddy!"

Mickey looked at him with an open mouth.  
"Eric's not gonna come back here. Never, okay? I promise you; you don't have to have anything to do with that guy. Alright?"  
"And Match stays?"  
"I hope so Yevy. I do my best. Okay?"

Yevgeny nodded and brushed his hair out of his face.  
"And, pops, you know you can kiss him, right? You always do that when you Think I don't look. But I don't care if you kiss him. Couples kiss."

Mickey smiled and ruffled his hair.  
"No matter what, you're the best guy in my life, Yevy."  
Yevgeny smiled at him.  
"So I'm getting pancakes for breakfast?"  
"You definitely get pancakes for breakfast. Go get dressed okay?"

Yevgeny grinned and ran off to his room.  
Mickey chuckled. He felt Ian's hand slowly reaching for his.

"You're up?" Mickey whispered.  
"Half way, yeah. Did Yevy just say he wants me to be his dad?"  
"Yeah. Remember what I told you: if he starts calling you dad you officially are not allowed to leave, ever. And no more fucking insecurities about other guys either - talk to me, Bitch."

Ian leaned up and kissed him.  
Mickey ran a hand through his red hair, and they started making out on the couch.  
Mickey had his legs wrapped around Ian's hips and the Gallagher ran a hand down his body.

"Pops you said I get pancakes!" Yevgeny's complaining voice made them pull apart.  
"Yeah, right, sorry. Pancakes I'm on it" Mickey rambled and got up from under Ian to hurry into the kitchen.

Yevgeny sat on the couch next to Ian, who panted slightly.  
"Since you're my new daddy now, I can ask you for sweets if pops says no. And you will say yes, right?"

Ian just stared at the kid speechless.  
"No Yevgeny, a no to sweets is a no to sweets. You gotta listen to pops not to Ian.", Mickeys voice came from the kitchen.

Yevgeny cursed in a way a five year old shouldn't curse.  
He leaned closer to Ian.  
"Don't listen to him. You can always give me candy, just don't tell pops" he put a finger on his lips.

Ian just chuckled at the kid and ruffled his hair.


	9. In real life, the wolf got Mandy

A week later the three of them sat in Mickeys car.  
"Where are we going?" Ian asked.  
"Surprise" Mickey just mumbled.

Ian had taken his pills regularly again. He had felt down a bit, but he was already better again.

They drove around for an hour before Mickey pulled into a parking lot of a hospital.

For a moment Ian started to panic -was Mickey gonna lock him away? He was like a dog having to go to the vet and being lured into the car with treats!

But Yevgeny behind him gasped and squealed suddenly.  
"We're visiting Auntie Mandy!" He exclaimed.  
Ian raised his eyebrows and looked at Mickey, who gave him a shy smile.

"You wanted to meet her, didn't you?"  
Ian smiled and leaned over to peck his cheek, Mickey faced him and stole a proper kiss from his boyfriend.

"Guys! Stop kissing! I want to visit Auntie Mandy!" Yevgeny lightly pulled Ian away from Mickey.  
"Stay calm, Yevy. You still know the rules for being at pop's work place right?"

Yevy nodded.  
"No running around and screaming because it could stress the sick people. No going away alone. If I get lost, I need to talk to the people in the uniforms because they're nurses."  
Mickey nodded "Right, buddy. Gallagher, same goes for you."

They got out of the car and walked to the main entrance.  
A woman sat behind a glass plate and grinned at Mickey.

"Mickey! Isn't it your day off, are you visiting Mandy? And you brought Yevy, hey little man!" Yevgeny just smiled up at her, "He belongs to you too?" He asked and pointed at Ian.

"Yeah that's Ian, my boyfriend."  
"Oh, that's the mysterious guy I've heard so much about." She grinned and handed them visitor ID cards.  
"You already told them the rules?"  
"Yeah, I'm responsible."  
"Alright. Say hello to Mandy from me" she buzzed the next open.

Mickey lead his boys through the halls to the room where they would see Mandy.  
"You talk about me at work?" Ian grinned.  
Mickey shrugged "Might have mentioned you a few times."

Yevgeny held on to Mickeys hand.  
Ian looked around and was startled for a moment.  
"Different than what you know huh?" Mickey whispered "When you were put into a psych ward, you were probably put with the lighter cases. Suicide attempts, strange behaviour, building psychosis. You're mainly just watched and maybe get a diagnosis."

Mickey was right. This was different from what Ian knew.  
People were sitting around, staring or talking with themselves or others, spit was running out of mouth corners and nurses tried to get a patient to stop banging his head against a wall.  
Ian tried not to stare at all the people.

"There she is" Mickey mumbled and took Ian's hand, walking over to his sister.

Mandy probably once was a beautiful girl, full of love and life.  
But in front of Ian sat a skinny girl in a wheelchair, long black hair fell down her shoulders. She stared into nothingness.

"Hey Mands" Mickey said softly and ran his fingers over her arm, Mandy didn't seem to react.  
Mickey took the wheelchair and pushed her over to some couches where they could sit down.

"Look I brought Yevgeny."  
Yevgeny crawled up into Mickeys lap.  
"Hey Auntie Mandy" he smiled.  
Mandy looked at her nephew, her head lay weirdly crooked, and then she showed a smile.

She let out a weird, almost creepy giggle and looked from Yevgeny to Mickey. Then she raised her arms in Yevgeny's direction.

The blonde boy crawled over to her like it was the most normal thing in the world. Every other kid Ian could think off, would be freaked out.

Yevgeny hugged his aunt who kept giggling. A string of spit ran out of the corner of her mouth, she didn't seem to notice.

Mickey took a tissue and cleaned her up. Then Mandy seemed to notice Ian.  
She made big eyes at him. Then she moved her hand to touch Mickey and opened her mouth to speak.  
Her words were slurred and slow and barely understandable, but Mickey just smiled.

"That's Ian. He's my boyfriend. I told you about him, I said we come to visit last Wednesday, you remember?"

Mandy stared at Ian and then at Mickey and violently shook her head, hitting Yevgeny in the face with her long black hair, what only made the boy giggle.

Mandy leaned over to Mickey and spoke again: "He-he'sa hott" she giggled and leaned away again.

Ian smiled at her and then looked at Mickey who watched his reaction.  
"Pops, did you bring the game we always play?"

Mickey got some cards out of his jacket and Yevgeny crawled down from Mandy and back to Mickey.  
He took the cards from Mickey and showed them to Mandy.  
"Can you play with me?"

Mandy needed a moment to process his words and then nodded.  
"Ya! ya!" She said breathlessly.

While Yevgeny and Mandy played their little game, Mickey sat closer to Ian.  
A man came walking over, he grinned and stopped in front of Mickey.

"Hey Roger."  
The man grinned and held a little object out to him.  
"I'm not working today, Roger. I visit Mandy. Go ask Carla, okay?" Mickey quickly waved to one of the nurses.

Carla spoke calmly to Roger and led him away.  
"What did he want to give you?"  
Mickey bit his lip "Let's just say, not chocolate."

Ian grimaced.  
"So, every time you call yourself psycho or crazy; think about this here. Those people in here are crazy. Most of them have severe brain damage, some were born with it, some not" he looked to Mandy "Bipolar isn't the end of the word. And I wouldn't trade you for any other guy in the ountry." "Just the country?", Ian asked. "Hey, if the English ginger Prince ever happens to lie naked in my bed, I'm gonna ride his dick until it falls off, sorry."

Ian smiled and kissed his cheek.  
"Now you met my sister. It's the highest level of trust and family I can give you."  
"Thank you" Ian mumbled and leaned against his boyfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey put Yevgeny to bed.  
"I want a Mandy story."  
"But you saw her today" Mickey smiled.  
"I want a Mandy story! Then one day I can tell her all the stories you tell me. She will like them I'm sure."  
"You know what Mandy's favourite stories are? Yevgeny stories."  
"You tell her stories about me?"  
"Of course. You're her favourite nephew."  
"I'm her only nephew."  
Mickey chuckled "I'm sure your uncles got some unknown children all over the Southside."

Yevgeny chuckled  
"Mandy story!"  
"Alright, lie down"  
Yevgeny lay down properly and Mickey tucked him in.  
Ian sat on the couch and listened to them.

" _Once upon a time there was a little girl called Mandy. And she was the most beautiful girl in town. One day she was at a friend's house until it was already very late. So, she had to go home alone. But it was already dark and in the dark the big bad wolves come to town. So, she wanted to call her brother to bring her home safely, but she couldn't call him."_

"Why not?"  
"Her phone was dead."  
"That's not good. Why didn't she charge the phone when she was at her friend's?"  
"Because she forgot Yevy."  
"Auntie Mandy forgets a lot."

Mickey nodded " _So she walked home alone. But she quickly noticed that there was a wolf following her. She tried to run away but the wolf was much faster!_ "

"Oh no!" Yevgeny gasped "What happened then?"  
" _Suddenly she ran into someone._ "  
"Another wolf?"  
"No Yevy, he was a knight. _She met a knight in the middle of the night, and she asked him for help. To keep her safe from the wolf."_  
"And he did?"  
"Of course, he did, Yevy. He was a knight! _He fought off the wolf and took her home safely to her brother._ "  
"And her brother was a knight too!"  
"Right you are, Yevy. _The brother thanked the knight that he brought his sister back to him. Then he asked if the knight wanted something in return."_  
"What did he want?"  
"What do you think he wanted?"

Yevy thought hardly for a few seconds.  
"A kiss. He asked for a kiss."  
"From Mandy?"  
"No, from the brother!"  
"Oh, okay. So yes, _the brave knight asked for a kiss from the brother and the brother thought that the knight was really cute, so he kissed him_ "

"What did the knight look like?"  
Mickey smiled "hmmm, I think he had red hair"  
Yevgeny gasped "Like Match!"  
"Yeah, now that you say it, you're right, Ian also has red hair."  
"And did the knight and the brother became a couple then?"  
"I guess so."  
"Did they marry?"  
"Probably."  
"And had children?"  
"Maybe. Now it's the end of the story Yevy, time for bed."

Mickey switched on the night light.  
"Pops?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Is Ian going to be my dad number two?"  
Mickey smiled.  
"We'll see about that another time, Yevy."

He walked towards the door.  
"Pops?'  
"Yeah?" He sighed  
"In real life... did the bad wolf get Mandy?"  
Mickey licked his bottom lip.  
"I'm afraid so, Yevy. But you don't have to be afraid of big bad wolfs, Yevy. Nothing's gonna happen to you as long as your pops is here."

Yevy smiled and nodded and Mickey switched off the big light before leaving the room.

Ian smiled at him and reached his arms out to his boyfriend who lay down in his arms.  
"Yevy is getting serious with the second dad thing pretty fast" Ian mumbled and ran his hand gently through Mickeys hair.

"Well you can't blame the kid. He wants a stable family. And his mom definitely isn't the stable one."  
"And his solution is to collect as many parents as possible?"  
"His dad is the one that provides stability and - Lets be real - I'm the better cook. So, he wants more dads. Sounds logical to me."

Ian smiled and pressed a kiss down on Mickeys hair.  
"You sure Eric won't come back?"  
"If he does, I still have that gun I send your ex away with. Use it."

They lay in a comfortable silence for a while.  
"Mick?"  
"Yeah?"  
"What happened to Mandy?"

Mickey sighed.  
"Okay... I will tell you. Just... it's really not a happy story... or easy to stoamch."   
"Tell me, Mick. You can tell me everything." Mickey smiled.

"Our life was never easy, you know? My dad used to beat us up almost every day. He abused our mom... then Mandy, for years. Raped her... she thought it was normal – her dad touching her like that and hurting her – can you imagine that? By the time she was of dating-age, she was used to guys hurting her and treating her wrong... and the guys took advantage of that broken mindset. She was always damaged... it got worse with the years, but one night... "

Mickey took a deep breath. He never opened up to someone with this story. 

"She was dating a college guy back then. I was against it, because... you know, College guys. You hear it all over the media, how they treat girls, and no one cares. He took her to a college party. And I remember telling her 'don't leave your drinks unwatched! Better don't drink anything at all! Don't take anything they give you! Take another friend with you! Let me come with you and protect you!' But Mandy was... you should've seen her back then, freckles. She was fearless, at least that's what I like to think... Maybe she also just didn't care anymore what shit happened to her. She just said, she's gonna be find, that I shouldn't worry. And of course... what was bound to happen, happened"

Mickey swallowed hard, he looked down at his fingers. "They drugged her. Dragged her to a room. I think it were five guys... or six, one held a camera. They had their way with her and... three of them put her into their car and they raced down a road, the car roof was opened and while racing down the street, they threw her out of the car."

He paused for a minute and Ian rubbed his hand over Mickey's back, "She was in a coma for... well, While she was in coma, Eric and Svet happened, I got married and by the time she woke up, Yevgeny was already born. When she woke up, she wasn't the same anymore. Severe brain damage. She needed to learn how to talk again, the way it's now is the best it's ever gonna be again. She can't walk, she doesn't have the condition to eat alone, bath alone, dress and undress, she needs help with everything. The game she and Yevy played? That she can hold the cards is a big accomplishment we reached last year. She needs help to pick a card though and put it exactly where it needs to be. They played UNO, you know, a kid's version. You just have to see if your cards match the colour and the number of the card that's on top of the pile. It's even only half of the cards. It's the most complicated thing Mandy is capable off."

Ian rubbed over his shoulder and hugged him tightly.  
"That guy she was with, it were his friends. I don't know if he knew they planned it, I don't know if he knew what was happening with Mandy. But he was supposed to look after her! And he didn't! He didn't show up in the hospital once. He didn't care. If I ever find him, I'm gonna kill him. But I only know his first name, nothing else. But I'm gonna ruin his life like he ruined Mandy's.", he mumbled.

Ian kissed his hair and cuddled him.  
"Thanks for telling me", he whispered, "I know what that means to you, babe"  
"I love you"  
"I love you too", Ian whispered.

"What was the guy's name?"  
"Phillip"


	10. Divorce Papers

**3 years later**

Mickey and Ian brought Yevgeny back to the Milkovich house. It was the end of summer break for Yev and he had spent the last 3 weeks with his dads.

Svetlana hugged him and kissed his cheek.  
"Were you A good boy while you were with pops?" Svetlana asked.  
Yevy nodded.  
"The best" smiled Mickey.

The eight year old was eager to tell his mom everything about his adventures with the two men.  
"You can tell me everything later, Yevy" she smiled, "I need to talk to pops alone first, okay?"

Mickey raised an eyebrow at her and looked back to Ian.  
"Private, carrot boy. Important."

"Hey, I have to go to work now anyways, so, can I take the car and you take the L back home?"  
"Sure" Mickey smiled, "Just remember that I have morning shift tomorrow okay? Yev, come here, say goodbye to Ian"

Yevgeny came running back And hugged Ian.  
"Bye, bye dad" he said smiling, "Good luck, saving people"  
"I'll do my best, Yevy. See you next weekend"

Ian rubbed Yevgeny's back and gave Mickey a goodbye kiss before leaving.  
Svetlana asked Mickey inside.

"Yevgeny could go to your room please while I talk to pops? Then You can tell me everything about your holidays okay?"  
"Okay mommy, pops you say goodbye to me before you leave right?"  
"Of course, Yevy."

The child grinned and went to his room.  
"So, what is so important that Ian can't hear it?"  
"He could, but I thought you maybe want to surprise him. Sit down" they sat down at the kitchen table.

"I like carrot boy. Yevgeny loves him, you love him. He's like second dad, I like that."  
"Well, Yev calls him dad for three years now and Ian really grew into the role." Mickey smiled. He loved his son's and boyfriend's relationship, "But why are we talking about this right now?"

"You know I've been seeing someone. I don't like him necessarily. he's rich And old, you know? However, he said, he would marry me."  
Mickey frowned at his wife.  
"Why would you marry some old dude you don't like?"

Svetlana suddenly pulled some papers out of her handbag that was placed on the table. She pushed them over to him.  
Mickey looked at them confused, divorce papers.

"So, you can marry Carrot boy" she explained.  
Mickey stared at her with wide eyes, him being surprised would be an understatement.

"Oh my... holy fuck... you would divorce me and marry some random dude just so I could marry Ian?"  
She shrugged "I know you want to. And I know you only didn't divorce me after Terry died because of Yevy, so he wouldn't have to grow up without his mom if they send me back to Russia. But I can deal with every situation people throw at me. I can be married to old man, means Yevgeny will have enough money and maybe go to College. And you can marry Carrot boy. Carrot boy doesn't leave, and Yevgeny is happy." She smiled and looked over to the couch in the living room, where back then, Terry had caught Mickey and Eric and made Svetlana Fuck him, this way Yevgeny came into their lives, "And I guess, I hurt you a lot all those years ago and yet, you made sure I wouldn't get thrown out of the country. Now is my turn to... give back or whatever... V explained all that bullshit to me."

Mickey smiled at the paper and at her.  
"Thank you, Svetlana. Really, thank you so much for doing this."  
"Yeah, yeah, don't fucking cry" she shook her head.  
He chuckled and Svetlana gave him a pen to sign the divorce papers.

"Another thing. I want new plan for when Yevgeny is where."  
Mickey looked up to her again, he should have known this had a downside for him...

"I don't want new guy have too much influence on Yevgeny, he isn't supposed to play step daddy or whatever. That's carrot boy's job. We will transfer Yevgeny to school that's between new guys house and your apartment. So, friend told me, she has divorce, and children are one week with her and one week with husband. You get it?"

Mickey blinked a few times.  
"So, you want Yevgeny to live every second week with me and Ian? The whole week?"  
She shrugged "That's option. If works with working schedule."  
"Sure, it will!" He said quickly, " If not I'll make it work!"  
"Then we will do that"  
"Fuck, this keeps getting better... what is the catch?"

She shook her head "There is no catch, Mikhailo. The catch was years of unwanted marriage, your father almost killing you and your other boyfriend being a pussy idiot."  
Mickey bit his lip.  
"There is no catch. Just marry Carrot boy and keep Yevgeny happy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later, Ian came home and just wanted a calm evening with his boyfriend. A movie, food, some sex.

But Mickey seemed to have other plans.  
The room was mostly dark just some small lights were on near the dining table.  
On the table stood some flowers and it smelled heavenly in here.

"Hey freckles" Mickey smiled and came towards him, he pecked his lips.  
"Hey" Ian smiled, " what is all this? I didn't forget some anniversary, did I?"

Mickey grinned and shook his head, "No, you didn't. I just wanted to do something nice for you. Three weeks with the kid and the last week you were so busy with work, I think we deserve some couple time just for us."

Ian smiled, "Sounds great" he pecked his lips again, "You're the best."  
Mickey just shook his head almost shyly, "Come, dinner is ready in a minute."  
"Am I allowed to change out of my uniform first?"  
Mickey looked him up and down.  
"But you look so hot in it."

Ian chuckled and took his shoes off, he kept his uniform on while Mickey served dinner.

"This is fantastic, babe" Ian mumbled and touched the flowers on the table, "How did I deserve this?"  
"I'm glad you like it. I know my take on romance usually consists of dragging the foreplay out before we fuck."

Ian grinned "I'm definitely not complaining about that. But this is nice though."  
They've finished eating by now, Ian sat next to Mickey and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"I've got another surprise for you.", Mickey admitted finally.  
Ian raised his eyebrows at him.

The Milkovich pulled the divorce papers from the empty chair next to him and put them in front of Ian.

"What's that?" He asked confused.  
"Divorce papers" Mickey whispered and leaned closer to Ian, "Svet and I are getting a divorce. She marries some rich dude to stay in the country. And... we get Yevgeny every second week, but for the whole week."

Ian looked as surprised as Mickey must've looked when Svet had told him about her plan.  
Then Ian's face erupted in a big grin.  
He leaned over to Mickey and kissed him deeply.

"God Mick, I love you so much. This is fantastic!"  
Mickey smiled, he knew it had bothered Ian a bit that Mickey and Svet were still married.  
But Mickey wasn't even at the best part yet.

"And I thought, now that I can finally divorce her..." He reached into his pocket and pulled a box out, that he put on top of the papers, " Will you... marry me?"

Mickey looked nervously over to the ginger.  
"Oh my god" he looked at the box with an open mouth and then back at Mickey, "You're serious about this right?"

Mickey chuckled, "Yeah, very serious, and you're kinda torturing me here right now"

Ian laughed, happiness spreading over his face, "Yes, yes I'll marry you! Fuck, Mick, I wanted this to happen for so long, fucking, I love you!" He exclaimed and pulled Mickey over to him to kiss him passionately again.

"I would marry you right now on the spot" he whispered and pulled Mickey on top of him.  
"You're fucking perfect, freckles. I love you too"


	11. Phillip the Wolf

Telling Ian's family meant having to gather them around for a Gallagher family dinner at Fiona's house.

They all sat at the table passing food around.  
Carl and Debbie were bickering about something, Liam was mostly silent, and Fiona and Lip talked and talked and talked.

Mickey never really enjoyed being around Ian's family, he liked them, sure, but they were always so loud and being around them for some hours was exhausting.

But today he couldn't be bothered. He sat next to his fiancé and made sure they were touching the whole time - no matter if one's hand lay on the others leg, or he leaned over far enough to lean on him or if it was just their legs slightly rubbing against each other under the table.

Mickey barely had contact with his siblings except his sister. He couldn't even imagine all of them sitting on a table eating together like this, so someone could make a big announcement.

In that point Mickey admired Ian's family, even though he wasn't a fan of being part of the gatherings for too long, he liked that they at least had some kind of structure in their life, so Ian could have these moments.

When Mickey would meet up with his brothers, they'd drink and talk about drugs and women and illegal stuff (Mickey didn't do anything of these things anymore and therefor couldn't exactly contribute to the conversation) and then they'd just avoid the Mandy topic the whole time.

He had never spoken to his brothers about Mandy for more than a few sentences along the lines of "unchanged" "good minding the circumstances" "still doesn't remember who"

He was brought back into reality by Ian saying.  
"We have an announcement to make"  
Mickey smiled up at Ian.

He had the attention of the whole Gallagher clan.  
"We're gonna get married!" He grinned finally and even showed off his hand with the ring Mickey bought him.

"Oh my god!" Debbie exclaimed, she sat next to Ian and ripped his hand to her to get a better look, "Oh my god! You're gonna get married!" She hugged him.

Fiona was just as excited, jumping up and down around the table where she hugged both boys, just like Debbie.  
Carl also congratulated them, gave them a bro hug, while the girls asked a thousand questions at once.

Lip also smiled and raised his glass to them but stayed calmer than the rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Telling Mickeys family meant telling not only his brothers, but also Kev and V from the bar and of course Svetlana and Yevgeny.

Mickey grinned widely, holding Ian's hand when they stormed into the Alibi.

He held Ian's hand high and yelled:  
"We're gonna get married bitches!"

They got an even louder reaction than from the Gallaghers.  
The whole bar (Mickey had managed to get his brothers here as well), including a bunch of people they didn't even know, raised their glasses and let out shouts of approval.

Mickey grinned at Ian and the ginger kissed him while laughing.

Yevgeny, who was in the bar with Svetlana like usual, came running to them.

"You will get married?"  
"Yes, Yevy" Mickey grinned at his son, "Ian and I are gonna get married and then he's officially your dad"

Ian laughed loudly when Yevgeny hugged him around his waist. The Ginger picked him up and strutted with him on his hip and Mickeys hand in his to the bar.

"Congratulations man, you're both getting free drinks! I'm invited to the wedding, right?"

Mickey chuckled, "Of course you and V are invited! And the kids."  
Ian kissed his temple, "Are you already planning our wedding without me?"  
Mickey grinned and kissed him properly, "I wouldn't take the chance to go through a hundred bride magazines away from you, Gallagher. Let all your gay wedding planner fantasies out with this!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian hadn't stop smiling for two weeks now. They had just brought Yev back to Svetlana after he had stayed a full week with them and now Mickey was off to work.

Lip had asked him over to his apartment. He wanted to drink on his engagement.

The brothers sat on Lip's couch, It was Lips third beer and Ian had to stick to coke after his first, because of the pills.

"We're thinking just a small wedding, you know? Friends and family, maybe in the bar Mickeys friends work at or in our yard or the yard from Mickeys old house, you know?" He grinned, "You guys, his son, his brothers, Kev and V, Svetlana of course, some guys from our workplaces, that would be enough. You think I should track down Monica for this? Should we invite Frank? That already sounds like a bad idea, right? I can't even tell you how excited I am about this wedding! Even though we barely come to planning it, cause everytime we talk about it we just have to get on each other - can't get my hands off of him"

Lip bit his bottom lip and looked at his brother with a serious expression on his face.

"Ian, listen... you can't marry Mickey."

Ian frowned at him.  
"What? Why wouldn't I? I love him and his son, and he's good for me, without him I wouldn't have been able to handle this shit disorder. He's the love of my life, Lip. I'll marry him."

"No, Ian, you don't understand... you can't marry him. You just can't. It wouldn't be right."  
"What are you talking about?" He asked confused, "I thought you liked Mickey?"

Lip swallowed and sighed. He leaned back into the couch.  
"There are things you don't know."  
"What things?", he started to get worried.

Lip took a deep breath, "When... years ago, when I was in college.... I had this... girlfriend. She was beautiful, smart, funny, tough. I was extremely into her..." He stared at his beer bottle, "One night... we had a party... college party and I took her with me. I promised to look after her but... I just turned around to talk to some friends and... She was suddenly gone. I couldn't find her... I was so stupid" he exhaled deeply, his voice shook "The next day they found her... on a highway... She must've fallen out of a driving car at full speed. It was my fault... I felt so damn guilty... I was supposed to protect her, but... I didn't... I couldn't even bring myself to visit her in the hospital... I was so ashamed..."

Ian stared at his older brother.  
"No" he whispered and rubbed his hands over his face, " No, this can't be true.... it wasn't... it was Mandy, wasn't it? Mickey's little sister..."

Lip let his head hang low, but nodded, "I ruined Mandy's life. I can't even look Mickey in the eyes when you bring him over. When I learned his last name, it hit me. Who he was. It brought back all those memories, not that I could forget her anyways. But you can't marry him, Ian. It wouldn't be right."

Ian just shook his head and got up.  
"Fuck you, Lip!" He growled before leaving and throwing the door shut behind him.  
Mickey had the car, so he had to take the bus home.

When he entered his and Mickeys apartment, he was still angry at Lip.  
How could Lip do this? How could Lip know this the whole time and not tell him? Why had he to tell him now? Why would he insist that Ian couldn't marry the man he loved? Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

But when he switched on the lights in the apartment, his eyes fell on the pictures on the wall. It was mostly Yevgeny, also pictures of him and Mickey... And one of Mickey and Mandy, before the incident.

He looked at the picture of the young, beautiful girl that looked happy and alive. His own brother ruined this, ruined her.

How was Ian supposed to look Mickey in the eye while knowing, that his own brother ruined the life of one of the most important people in Mickeys life?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ian was at the mental hospital Mandy Milkovich was in.  
The woman that let him in was a bit confused "All alone? Mickey doesn't have a shift right now."  
"I know... I just want to visit Mandy real quick."  
"Oh... okay..." She gave him his visitor ID, "congratulations on the engagement, by the way"  
"Thanks" Ian nodded and was only to show her a half smile.

The Ginger walked into the room with all the patients, since Mickey wasn't with him, a nurse would stay close to him and Mandy to make sure, he wouldn't upset her.

"Hey Mandy" he smiled at her.  
Mandy looked at him for a moment, before grinning and waving at him.  
She looked around, as if she would search for someone else. Of course, she would, usually Ian only came here together with Mickey and Yevgeny.

"I came alone. Without Mickey and Yev, sorry. I wanted to ask you something."

Mandy fixated her eyes on him again.  
Ian took a photo of Lip out of his pocket and gave it to Mandy, "Look, do you know that guy?"

Mandy held the picture and stared at it before starting to form a crooked smile on her lips. She traced the boys features with her fingers.

"Phil-lip" she mumbled happily, "Lip. Lip. Lip." Her smile started to fade, "Help, Lip, help" she whispered.

It took Ian a lot to not start crying on the spot.  
It didn't help when Mandy started smiling again and kept chanting Lips name like a valuable secret.

Up until this point he still had hoped, that Lip was just mistaken Mandy for another girl. But even in her state, she could identify his brother.

"Okay" he whispered, "Thanks Mandy"  
He tried to take the photo back from her, but she ripped it away from him and shook her head.  
Mickey looked up at the nurse.

"Mandy, it's time to give the photo back, it's not yours."  
"It's okay, she can keep it" Ian mumbled, "Goodbye Mandy"

Ian got up and looked at the nurse.  
"Hey, it's Claire, right?"  
"Yes."  
"Look, would it be possible that Mickey won't hear that I've been here?"  
"Uh... I don't know" she mumbled and looked back at Mandy.  
"Please. I just want to protect him."


	12. Where is dad?

Ian made it another two weeks.  
Two weeks of feeling guilty, of not being able to look Mickey in the eyes, of not getting Mandy chanting Lips name out of his head.

Two weeks later Mickey came home humming a happy tune, smiling while looking through the mail.  
He unlocked the door and kicked his shoes off before looking up. 

He stopped, there sat Ian on the couch, a duffle bag next to him on the ground. Something about his face, about the atmosphere let his smile drop.

"Ian? What's going on?"  
Ian stood up and took his bag.  
"I'm sorry" he started.  
Mickey looked confused from the bag to him.  
"I can't do this, Mick." 

"What?", he came closer to the Gallagher and looked him in the eyes, "What can't you do? What's going on?"  
Ian swallowed hard, "I can't... I can't marry you, Mickey." 

"What? No, why... yes you can"  
Ian let his head hang low.  
"Why not?" Mickeys voice broke, "I thought you wanted this."  
"So did I" He whispered, "But I just... I can't."  
"What is it? Is it the pills or... whatever it is we can work through it!"

Ian pressed his lips together. Of course, Mickey wouldn't make this easy for him. of course Mickey was willing to do anything to make him stay, but it just wouldn't be right of him to stay here. Not with this secret.

"I can change" Mickey said desperately and Ian wanted to cry and tell him that he didn't need to change because he was fucking perfect the way he was, "I can be more romantic or whatever! I can... I dunno, I can be better!"

"No, Mick. You're... you're perfect the way you are. And, god, you have to believe me, That I love you more than anything. But we can't get married... I can't do this. It wouldn't... It wouldn't be right"

"Why wouldn't it be right? If you love me, why would you leave me?", he could hear that Mickey was close to tears what happened so rarely, it broke Ian's heart to know, he made Mickey cry.

"I have to" he whispered and took a deep breath, he put the engagement ring on the coffee table and looked him in the eyes for the first time in a while, "I love you. And I'm sorry."

Ian swallowed again and then walked past Mickey to the door.  
"Ian, wait!" Mickey pleaded, but Ian was out the door, leaving Mickey alone in the empty, cold apartment with the ring sitting on the table, mocking him.

The Milkovich's legs went weak and he slowly sank to the ground, he just sat there, staring at the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey stared down at his phone. He was calling Ian again, like he did for the last five days. By now, he didn't even hope anymore Ian would actually pick up the phone... He didn't for the last days, but he also wouldn't hang up on him or block him... as if Ian would just sit in front of his phone and wait until Mickey stopped calling.

Mickey just stared down at the screen and waited for the call to go to mailbox.  
Mickey had texted him a few times, but there never came any reaction.

Mickey sighed and got up from the couch. His apartment was a mess and he really wasn't in the mood to clean... He swallowed and took a deep breath.

His mind was on Yevgeny. His son was supposed to stay the week with him again. He couldn't let him in while it looked like this in here.

He took his trashcan and started to pick up all the beer cans that lay around. it almost shocked himself how many of these lay here, he didn't drink like this since... pretty much since his dad died and couldn't give him reason anymore.

An hour later he knocked on Svet's door, he was freshly showered, but that didn't help him feeling and looking fucking awful. 

Yevgeny opened the door and grinned.  
"Hey pops!"  
"Hey, buddy. Are you ready to go?"  
Yevgeny nodded and Svetlana appeared behind him.

"So, here are school things, and more clothes."  
"He's got clothes at my place, Svet" Mickey mumbled.  
"For emergency" she shrugged.

"Pops, where is dad?" Yevgeny asked and looked around confused, "Is he at work?"  
Mickey bit his bottom lip and looked at Svetlana. She looked back confused.

Mickey took a deep breath and kneeled down infront of his son, so he could look him in the eyes.  
"I'm sorry Yevy... Ian isn't at work and he also won't be home"  
"Why not?"  
"Because... He doesn't want to get married anymore and... He moved out."

Yevgeny opened his mouth, he looked like he was about to cry.  
"He left us?"  
"I'm sorry Yevy." He whispered.  
"Why would he leave? Why wouldn't you make him stay?"  
"I tried Yevy, but..."  
"Then you didn't try hard enough! Why couldn't you make him stay? Pops, why?" Thick tears started to roll out of his big blue eyes.

Mickey reached out and tried to hug him or comfort him in any way, but Yevgeny stepped back.  
"No" he cried "leave me alone!" The boy ran away to his room.

Mickey sighed and let his head hang low. He stood back up and looked at Svetlana.

"Carrot boy left?"  
"Yes. He just... took his things and left me. Said he couldn't marry me but loved me... I don't know... I don't know what I did wrong, Svet" he mumbled.

"Stupid carrot boy" she shook her head, "I talk to Yevgeny."  
"Could he stay here for the week? He doesn't seem to want to Go with me anyways."  
"Yes, he can stay this week. Don't drink too much."

Mickey nodded, "Weren't you supposed to move to your new husband?"  
"Soon" she shrugged, "Go home, I talk to Yevgeny."  
"Okay... thanks Svet..."

He slowly turned around and went back to the car.  
Now his own son ran away from him and didn't want to stay the week, blamed him for Ian leaving. The Ginger Gallagher really ruined his fucking life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been two weeks and Yevgeny still refused to talk to Mickey. He couldn't even process how much that hurt him.  
Yevgeny was his everything, and he refused to talk to him or go with him.

Ian still didn't pick up the phone or answered his texts, even though Mickey could see, that he read every single one of them.  
The Milkovich was so fucking close to go up to the station confront him there, but somehow... as much as he wanted to talk to him, he was scared to be rejected by him again... he was scared, Ian would also refuse to talk to him and run away from him, like Yevgeny.

It's been two weeks and Mickey tried again to pick Yevgeny up from Svetlana.

"He isn't home yet." Svetlana explained.  
"You asked me to come sooner than usual. Why if he isn't here?"  
Svetlana sighed, "It's time we talk. Come in."

Mickey followed her inside and she made him sit at the kitchen table. She served coffee and sat across from him.

"What is it? Are you okay? You look a little... pale." He mumbled confused.  
"How are you?" She asked instead.  
Mickey shrugged, he couldn't remember ever really talking about his feelings with Svetlana before.  
"Not good. How am I supposed to feel? My fiancé left me without any explanation and won't answer his fucking phone."

"So, still no answer from carrot boy?"  
Mickey shook his head.  
"I mean... I always knew, that he's in a completely different league than I am. That usually a guy like him wouldn't look at me twice. But... that he leaves Yevy just like that? Without even a word? That's not like him..."

"Maybe it was the... you know, the sick thing."  
"The disorder? No, I don't think so. He didn't act manic or erratic in any way. He seemed to be completely sane and stable when he broke up with me..."

"You have no idea where he is?"  
"I guess he hides with his siblings... probably Lip. And I have no idea where he lives. Then again... what good would it do to actually go up to him just to be send away again? Every time he doesn't answer my fucking calls it feels bad enough."

Svetlana sighed deeply.  
"You have to fix things with Yevgeny."  
"I know... I don't know how. You know I would do anything for that boy. But I don't have control over what Ian does. Yevgeny fucking hates me now..." He mumbled.

"He does not hate. He just misses carrot boy. You need to fix things now."  
Mickey bit his bottom lip and looked at his ex-wife.  
"Is there something you aren't telling me, Svet? You're weird for weeks already."

Svetlana sighed and sat up straight.  
"I will die." She said finally, "Soon."  
Mickey stared at her with raised eyebrows, "What?"

"Cancer" she almost shrugged it off, "I wanted you to marry Ian and have Yevgeny not only on weekends, so you get used to everyday schedule... school organisation. All that. So, it would be more easy when I'm gone."

Mickey changed his seat from across to her to next to her.  
"Is there... is there no way to..." He was at a loss of words.  
She tipped her fingers against her head, " It's in the brain. Can't operate. New guy I will marry pays all hospital bills."

Mickey looked away from her and stared into his coffee.  
"Since when do you know?"  
"For a while." She just shrugged, "When Yevgeny was with you for three weeks in summer break, I was at hospital whole time. But there is no way around it. I will die soon."

Mickey leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.  
"When you made me sign the divorce papers and everything, I asked you what the catch is." He looked at her again "The catch is, you're going to die. I thought now everything could become perfect. I could marry Ian, you could stop the prostitution and live in a nice house while some stupid old dude brings our son through college.... shit, how's Yevy supposed to get through this?" He ran his hands through his hair.

"Yevgeny will be okay, because you will take good care of him. And I made my peace with this, Mikhailo. I will be alright."  
Mickey shook his head and looked at her, "There was a time I hated you so much I wanted you to die slowly and painfully... But now... this shouldn't... this shouldn't be happening."  
"It's ironic isn't it?" And she almost smiled.


	13. It wasn't right

Mickeys head was filled up with a thousand different thoughts and worries.  
He just got off work, he was tired.

The last time he was at Svetlana's, he at least managed to get his son to talk to him, he even hugged him, but he didn't want to go back to the apartment with him.  
Svetlana had a brain tumour and would die soon.  
And the man he loved left him and just wouldn't pick up his phone right now, when Mickey needed him so much.

Mickey was sure he was close to breaking down or something.  
He left the mental hospital, evening shift was just over, and he was ready to go home.

"Hey, Mickey, hold up" a voice suddenly called him, it was one of his co-workers, Claire.

"Hey" she approached him and walked down the way to the parking lot with him, "I heard Ian broke up with you..."  
"I'm really not in the mood right now Claire." He mumbled.

"Just... Danny said, that was like three weeks ago, right? And that reminded me on something strange... that happened five weeks ago..."  
"Uh-hu" he just mumbled and kept walking. He wasn't sure what relevant information Claire of all people could have.

"Ian was here five weeks ago."  
Mickey stopped in his tracks and turned around to her.  
"Here?" He repeated.  
"Yes. He came to visit Mandy."  
"Why would he visit Mandy without me and Yev?"

Claire shrugged, "He showed her a photo of a guy. Asked if she knew him. She clearly recognised him and... I don't know... He looked so sad about that. He asked me not to tell you, but... Now that you aren't together anymore, maybe you should know."

"A photo?" Mickey asked confused.  
Claire nodded and pulled something out of her pocket, "Mandy didn't want to give it back but of course she couldn't keep it later, so she gave it to me to keep it."  
Mickey looked at the photo.  
"That's Ian's brother. Why would Ian show her this?" He mumbled.

Claire shrugged "No clue. But she smiled widely and touched the photo while whispering 'Phillip' over and over again."

Mickey looked up from the photo shocked.  
"Phillip? That's what she said?"  
"Yes." She shrugged, "Why?"  
"That was the name of the boyfriend she had when... fucking hell... Lip is..." the realisation hit him like a train on full speed.

Lip was Mandy's boyfriend, it had been Lips friends that raped Mandy, Lip should have looked out for her.  
Mickey wondered if Ian knew this all along or if he also just found out and now maybe even broke up because of it.

But then again, he only thought about his sister.  
Yevgeny, Svetlana and Ian were suddenly out of his mind and his head was on Lip. He had sworn revenge on that man years ago.

"I have to go" he growled towards Claire and ran to his car.  
He probably shouldn't drive while he was so angry, but he couldn't care less right now. He had no clue where Lip lived, but he knew where to find Fiona.

He pulled up in front of her house and ran up the stairs. He hammered with his fist against the door. He didn't care how late it was.

A tired looking Fiona opened the door eventually, she apparently hadn't been sleeping yet, but she still didn't seemed to be pleased about the loud noise.

"Mickey?" She asked confused.  
"Where is Lip?" He growled, "His address, now!"  
"Lip? What, are you looking for Ian?"  
"I'm looking for Lip! Where do I find him?"

He knew he was intimidating, he knew he probably ruined the picture Fiona had of him right now, but he didn't care.  
"Now!" He yelled.  
Fiona took a step back but quickly told him an address before slamming the door into his face.

Mickey ran back to the car and drove the way to Lips apartment.  
The front door to the building was broken and he quickly ran up the stairs to the Gallagher door.

He contemplated just kicking the damn thing in, but instead started knocking loudly and angrily, like he did at Fiona's door.

Just a second later the door opened. And Mickey almost forgot why he was here. The man who opened up was Ian.  
It's been almost a month since the last time he saw him, and he just wanted to throw himself against him and hug him and kiss him and ask him why he left him.

But in the background, he could see Lip in the kitchen and was immediately focused again.

"Mick..." Ian whispered.  
But Mickey pushed him out of his way and ran into the kitchen where he pushed Lip against the fridge before the older Gallagher could even process that Mickey was here.

"It's you!" He yelled at him, "It's your fault! You were with Mandy that night! You were supposed to look out for her!"

He could see the fear in his eyes.  
"I'm sorry!" He gasped, "I'm sorry! I swear, I just let her out of my sight for one second and then she was gone!"  
"You were supposed to protect her on that party! You! It's your fault that she sits in that fucking wheelchair! That she can't talk properly or hold some fucking cards! You ruined her life!"

"I didn't! I didn't do anything to her! I wanted to look out for her, but she was suddenly gone! I didn't want this to happen, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry? Do you even know what they did to her? Your friends? Your fucking frat brothers?"  
Mickey pushed him closer to the fridge, he held him dangerously tight around the neck.

"They raped her! All five at once and one filmed it! He put it on the internet, you knew that? One of my brothers found it on a fucking porn side, titled 'naive slut gets gangbanged by college guys'. They drugged her and she still struggled! Struggled just the right amount to turn them on, she screamed for help! And the boys around her just laughed while raping her... And she cried... and they just kept going..." his voice broke several times, he sounded choked up and close to crying himself, "And then, they put her into their car and raced down the fucking street and just threw her out at full speed! All that because you were too stupid to look out for her for one fucking night! And those boys? Do you think anyone ever cared enough to investigate? Do you think they ever bothered with finding and punishing the pigs who did that? No! Of course not! I bet you even know, who did it, but of course you wouldn't tell on your buddies, right? Cause that's just how you frat boys are! You can all live your life in peace and have great jobs with your college degrees! While my sister can barely eat on her own!" He yelled at him.

Mickey was angry enough to suffocate Lip in too much rage to think it through.

"Mickey" he heard Ian's soft voice behind him, the ginger put his hand on Mickeys shoulder.  
Mickey turned around to him, anger still bluntly on his face. Lip panted heavily behind him and sat down on the floor.

He pushed Ian backwards against a counter.  
"Did you know? Did you know it was him all along?"  
Ian looked at him calmly, he knew Mickey wouldn't do anything to him.

"No" he whispered, "I swear, I had no idea. He only told me after we got engaged. He said, we couldn't get married cause it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right, because it's his fault what happened to Mandy." 

Mickeys lips started to quiver.  
"That's why you left me? Because your brother said so?"  
"No..." He closed his eyes and threw his head back, "I just... I couldn't look you in the eyes anymore after I knew. I couldn't keep this secret from you, and I also didn't want you to go after Lip. I didn't know what to do... I felt so lost... my brother ruined your sister's life, how was I supposed to stay with you while knowing that? It wasn't right..."

"It wasn't right?" He repeated, tears were rolling down his cheeks now, "Yevgeny refuses to talk to me and stay at my place because you left! Svetlana is dying!" His voice broke again, Ian stared down at him shocked, " She's going to die soon, and our son sits home crying because he feels left by you and he blames me for that! Talk about things being right!"

"I'm sorry" Ian whispered desperately and just pulled him in and hugged him, "I'm sorry for everything, Mickey."

Mickey exhaled deeply and leaned against his shoulder. He took in his scent again and sobbed. Emotions were finally getting the better of him.

Everything seemed to break down over him at once. Yevgeny not wanting to talk to him, Svet dying, Ian leaving, Lip being the one responsible for Mandy's condition.

He just started crying into Ian's shirt and Ian held him closer and rubbed his back, while trying to calm him down.

"I love you, I love you", Ian whispered over and over again, "I love you so much. I never wanted to leave you or Yevy. I'm so sorry"

It took Ian several minutes to calm Mickey back down, Lip left the room in the meantime to hide from Mickey in the bathroom.  
Mickey eventually managed to pull back and look up at him.

Ian cupped his cheeks and rubbed his tears away.  
"I missed you so much" Ian whispered, "I never thought being without you again would feel as awful as it does."

Mickey suddenly felt a bit hope coming up.  
"Does that mean you will come back?" He whispered. 

Ian looked at him confused.  
"Why on earth would you want me back? After what my brother did?"  
"That's your brother. It's something your brother did over eight years ago. That doesn't mean I don't love you or want you, Ian. Doesn't mean that I don't need you anymore."

Ian closed his eye and sniffed, a sad smile displaying on his lips.  
"I thought you'd hate me if you knew..."  
"I could never hate you."  
Ian swallowed hard.  
"Would you even still marry me?"  
"On the spot." Mickey nodded.  
Ian looked at him and this time really smiled.

The Gallagher pulled him in and kissed him.  
It was their first kiss in three weeks and Mickey had never been so desperate to kiss someone.

"I love you" Ian whispered when they separated.  
Mickey nodded, he didn't feel string enough to say it back like this right in this moment. His brain was overwhelemd with all the shit happening at once. "Will you come back home with me?", was the only important thing Mickey could ask now.  
Ian nodded, "I'll just get my things. Wait here." He mumbled and pecked his lips again a few times.

Mickey waited impatiently for Ian to come back with his duffle bag.  
He couldn't leave this place fast enough.

When they finally sat downstairs in Mickeys car again, they both sighed and Ian leaned over to Mickey again, pulling Mickey over to kiss him again.

"Ian wait" Mickey mumbled when Ian unbuckled his seat belt and came closer.  
Ian stopped and looked at him with raised eyebrows.  
"First things first, you have to apologize to Yevgeny." 

Ian licked his bottom lip.  
"It's the middle of the night."  
"It's Friday maybe he's still up. Even if not. You're gonna do that first. You really hurt him a lot with that stunt you pulled."

Ian sighed and leaned back in his seat.  
"I know" he mumbled "I feel like shit because I just left without an explanation." He looked over to him, "Is Svet really going to die?"

Mickey nodded sadly, "That's why she wanted the divorce and wanted us to get married" he explained quietly, "That's why she wanted Yev to stay with us for entire weeks not just weekends. It's training for when she's not around anymore. I should have known something is wrong. Svetlana would never give up more time with her son just out of the goodness of her heart."

Ian put his hand on Mickeys arm.  
"I'm sorry Mickey."  
Mickey just nodded and started driving.

~~~~~~~~

They arrived at the Milkovich house, it was mostly dark, but he could see light in the living room, so at least Svet was still up.

Ian looked downright afraid about his encounter with Yevgeny.  
Mickey knocked on the door and Waited for Svetlana to open up.

It took the Russian woman longer than usual but eventually the door opened.  
"What are you doing here? It's late." She complained.  
"Sorry Svet. Is Yevy home? Need to talk to him."  
"He's asleep on couch"  
"It's important, could you wake him up? Please."

Svetlana opened the door a bit wider until she saw Ian standing next to her ex-husband.  
"Carrot boy." She stated coldly.  
Ian bit his lip, he didn't like the Russian woman's tone.

Svetlana turned around and went to the living room to wake Yevgeny up.  
A few minutes later she came back, leading the sleepy child to the front door.

"Pops?" He asked and rubbed his eyes, „What are you doing here?"  
"Hey, buddy" he smiled, " Look I brought you someone."

Mickey pulled Ian in front of Yevgeny and made him kneel down in front of him.  
Yevy looked at him uncertain and stepped backwards.  
Mickey didn't need to see Ian's face to know, how much it hurt him seeing this reaction.

"Hey Yevy" Ian tried to smile at him, "I wanted to apologize to you."  
Yevgeny shook his head, "You just ran away!"  
"I know, I'm sorry"  
"You didn't even say goodbye to me! You swore to me that you never leave us, and you did!"

"I know. I know that was wrong, there are things you can't understand, Yevy. I thought I'd have to go. But now I'm back."

"You made pops sad!" Yevy complained, "And you made me sad! You were supposed to be my second dad and not just run away from us!"

"I'm so sorry Yevy. I really am. I promise, this time I'll stay forever. I won't leave the two of you again, ever."  
"You already promised that. Why would I believe you now?" 

Ian looked helplessly up to Mickey. The Milkovich sighed and leaned down to Yevgeny as well. 

"Yevy, Ian thought he had no choice but to leave us. He never would leave you voluntarily, okay? He loves you and he wants to come back again. But only if you let him.", he explained calmly.

Ian nodded and looked back at Yevgeny, he took his small hands in his, "I never wanted to leave the two of you. But now, everything is better. Everything will be like it used to."

Yevy looked from Ian up to Mickey and to Svet.  
"You will be my dad again?" He whispered.  
Ian nodded.  
"And you will marry pops? And we can all live together at pops place when I'm not with mommy?"  
"Yes, all of that."

Yevgeny looked up to Mickey, who nodded.  
"Okay" Yevgeny whispered, and Ian sighed relieved.  
Yevgeny started smiling and stepped towards to hug Ian tightly.

Ian almost started crying, he hugged the child back and rubbed over his back, apologizing again and again.  
Mickey looked at Svetlana and she nodded and looked relieved herself.


	14. She just said his name

Ian and Mickey needed to hurry up with their wedding because they wanted to make sure, Svetlana would be there and as healthy as possible.

When she died six months after the wedding, it was needless to say that Yevgeny was a mess. So was Mickey, He had liked Svetlana more than he ever thought he would.  
So, Ian just did his best to be there for his two boys.

A few more months later, Ian came to Mickey with a weird request.  
"Lip wants to meet Mandy." He mumbled after hesitating for several minutes.  
Mickey stared at him surprised, "Why would he want that?"  
Ian shrugged, "I don't know. He feels guilty for what happened back then, and he feels like shit that he never visited her in hospital when she was in coma."  
"Good, he should feel like shit for that.", Mickey got up from the dining table and started to put the dishes into the sink.  
"To be fair, he was afraid you and your brothers would turn him into mashed potatoes if he showed up at the hospital."  
Mickey shrugged "Rightly so"

"He just wants to talk to her."  
"She isn't really capable of holding whole conversations. Thanks to him."  
"He wasn't one of the guys who did it" Ian mumbled.  
"He was-"  
"Supposed to look out for her, I know. I know, Mick."

Ian got up and walked up to him, he hugged him from behind.  
"I know you blame him, so do I. He blames himself even more. But maybe that's why he wants to meet her, kind of, as closure."  
"There is no closure. Mandy's condition won't change. Ever."  
Ian kissed his cheek, " Just waste a thought or two on it, okay?"

Mickey sighed and turned his head to signal that he wanted to be kissed by his husband.  
Ian smiled and kissed him gently.  
"I love you" Mickey mumbled.  
"I love you too" Ian grinned and turned him around to him to kiss him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were at the mental hospital with Lip.

Mickey still couldn't believe he actually did this. But then again, Claire and Ian both said, that Mandy reacted positively when she saw his photo.

Yevgeny was excited as always to visit his auntie.  
"This is where you work?" Lip whispered and looked around.  
"Different than what we know from mom right?" Ian mumbled.

Mickey spotted Mandy and told the other three to wait on one of the couches.  
Mickey squatted down in front Of Mandy.  
"Hey Mands. I told you I would visit you today, you remember?"

Mandy looked at him and smiled.  
"Yevy?" She just asked in her slow soured voice.  
"Yeah, he's here. And I brought someone else for you. Come on"

Mickey bit back up and pushed her wheelchair over to the couches. Yevgeny got up immediately and hugged his aunt.

"Hi auntie Mandy" he exclaimed, "I missed you sooo much" he grinned and sat on the couch as close as possible to her.

She showed her excitement by laughing and giggling while Yevy wasted no time in telling her all about the past months, about how sad he was that his mom died and how amazing the wedding was.

"Oh, and look, we brought uncle Lip with us!" He ended excitedly.  
She had gotten more and more confused while Yevgeny talked to her, he was too fast for her and it had been too much information for her to process.

"Okay, Yevy, make a little break okay, you know auntie Mandy can't listen to too much stuff at once.  
"Okay, do you have the game with you?"  
"Not on me, but I'm sure it's in the nurse room. Do you want to go to the nurse room with me?"  
Yevgeny nodded.

"I'll get the game with Yevy, I'll be back in a moment." He said to Ian, "You think you can handle this without him freaking her out?"  
Ian nodded, "Of course."  
Yevgeny slowly explained to Mandy that They would be back in a minute and just get the game to play with her.  
Mandy nodded excitedly when she heard about the game.

After the two left the room, Mandy looked at Ian and smiled.  
She let some noises out that probably meant "Brother in law" Mickey and Yevgeny were way better at understanding her.

Ian came closer to her.  
"Yeah, I'm your brother in law now. We wished you would have been at the wedding. It was amazing."  
She giggled "Rohman-mantic?"  
"It was very romantic. I even convinced Mickey to wear a suit and we even had flowers. My brother Carl was my best man and Kevin was Mickey's... And Yevgeny was our ringbearer." Ian grinned and turned to his brother, "Do you want to talk to her now?"

Lip looked paler than usual but nodded.  
"Look Mandy, this is my brother. You know him, right? He wanted to see you."  
Lip changed seats with Ian so Mandy could see him properly.

"Hey Mandy" Lip mumbled.  
Mandy looked at him for a long moment and then started grinning.  
She raised her arms and dragged her finger over his cheek, kind of like she did with the photo.

"Phil-lip" she said and smiled, "Lip. Lip. Lip."  
He smiled back.  
"Yeah, it's me. You remember me?"  
She nodded wildly, having her hair flip with her head.  
"Phillip" she mumbled and kept touching his face and hair as gentle as possible for her.  
Lip eventually took her hand from his face and held it in his instead.

Mandy smiled lovingly at him.  
"I'm so sorry this happened to you Mandy. I'm sorry I didn't look after you properly."  
She didn't really seem to process his words or didn't know what he was talking about, Ian couldn't tell. At least she didn't react, just held his hand and smiled at him while whispering Phillip then and again.

Mickey and Yevgeny came back and Mickey was surprised to see his sister really interacting this calmly and happily with the man, who told her how beautiful she still was right now.  
Yevgeny went over to them.

"Look, auntie Mandy, I got the game. Now we can play. You want to play with us, uncle Lip?"  
"Of course, if you explain it to me."

Mickey sat next to Ian and leaned against him Ian put an arm around his husband.  
"This went better than expected right?"  
"I guess so" Mickey mumbled, "Did she say anything?"  
"Just his name. And she kept touching his face like she couldn't believe he's real." Ian chuckled and kissed Mickeys forehead. There was a longer pause during that they just watched the other three.  
"Maybe I am directing my anger at the wrong person..." Mickey whispered eventually.

They sat a bit further away from the other three so they couldn't hear them.  
"What do you mean?"  
"When Mandy woke up, she had to learn talking again. We asked her who did this or if she could remember anything. The only thing she ever said, one of the first things she said overall, was Phillip. For years, it's been the only thing she seemed to remember about that night. I knew it was her boyfriend's name, so I thought, she blamed him."

Ian nodded, "Maybe she just wanted to see him. Missed him. Maybe he really is the last thing she can remember."  
Mickey nodded and sighed.  
"She looks happy to see him again, that's what counts."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the ending. 
> 
> I admit, it feels a bit open, but at its core this story has always been about Mandy. 
> 
> Mickey and Yevy could forgive Ian, they're living happily in their apartment as little family now. 
> 
> Lip visits Mandy regularly in the hospital and her state even seems to get better over the time she interacts with Lip.


End file.
